Something for Everyone: Check out our review of the Apple iPad Air (M2)

Ladies and gents, the new iPad ‘Air’ is here. Except, it’s neither the thinnest and lightest tablet Apple sells – that’s the new iPad Pro - nor is it the entry level in the lineup (think: MacBook Air). Nitpicks about the name aside, the iPad Air, particularly in its plus-sized 13-inch variant, could stake the claim of being the ‘iPad Pro for the most of us’.

And it’s this 13-inch model that’s the big story this time around, offering the larger screen real estate for movies, sketching and doodling without paying the premium for the 13-inch Pro. Even in the bigger avatar, the tablet is lightweight and well balanced in the hand and is by no means chubby, though you will notice the weight if you have the highly recommended Magic Keyboard attached.

The bigger screen is as good as Apple’s 60Hz Liquid Retina LCD displays get, vibrant colors, rich contrast and all, but know this – the 2024 iPad Pro packs a 120Hz OLED display for the first time, and as stunning as the Air’s 13-inch display is, the Pro has the screen par excellence. As with the regular iPad and the Pro, the Air gets a front camera centered in landscape mode, so calls on the 12MP webcam don’t look off-angle anymore, plus you get the full complement of video call features, including Center Stage which keeps you centered and, in the frame, even if you move around. If you’re the sort who uses a tablet for photos (please don’t?), the 12MP rear camera takes serviceable shots and document scans.

Packing the same M2 chip that, until recently, powered the high-end iPad Pro, the iPad Air offers more performance than most people need, and I suspect with the new Pencil Pro support, it will tempt a fair number of artists and creative professionals who would ordinarily have opted for the iPad Pro. It’s that much of an upgrade, the Pencil Pro, and the new Pro and the Air are the only iPads that support it.

There’s a new Squeeze feature that brings up context-sensitive menus depending on the app you’re in (such as a drawing tool selection in Procreate), and the Barrell Roll feature that uses the in-built gyroscope to rotate the tool onscreen for precise control of shaped pen and brush tools. Or the Hover feature to preview actions before you actually touch the screen. There’s a reassuring bit of haptic feedback each time you squeeze as well, and it’s proof that no one does haptics better than Apple, whether it’s on the Watch, the Pencil Pro or the iPhone.

Switching most of my work tasks to the iPad Air with the Magic Keyboard accessory, which included liberal use of Slack, Word, Teams and altogether too many browser tabs, the tablet barely ever broke a sweat. Games will enjoy taking newer triple-A titles like Resident Evil 4 for a spin on the Air as well, and the M2 has enough headroom for years to come for all but the most demanding users. Battery life is on par with the 2022 iPad Pro with the same M2 chip, which means you’ll get a full day’s worth of web browsing or document creation.

What I continue to miss on the Air is the Pro’s slicker 120Hz ProMotion display – I mean, this is a tablet that starts at nearly eighty grand for the 13-inch version, so maybe a 90Hz middle ground could have been considered. Even more so, I miss having FaceID on the larger display - reaching out for TouchID fingerprint sensor when the Air is attached to the Magic Keyboard is a bit of an inconvenience. All things considered, if you were only considering an iPad Pro for the larger screen, save yourself a bit of money and get this instead…and spend a bit on the excellent first party accessories.

 Rating: 8/10

 Price: INR 59,900 (11”), INR 79,900 (13”) onwards