That Apple will be launching a new iPad soon was the second biggest highlight of the company’s event held yesterday titled Apple’s Peek Performance. The headliner was obviously the launch of the iPhone SE 3.

iPad Air 2022 will be the latest from the company after a year and a half. And believe it or not, the new updated specs makes it worth it. Much of the changes are on the inside.

Every exceptional phone/tablet must check 5 boxes. It is these that determine whether the device is worth buying or not. So let’s find out whether the iPad Air 2022 checks these 5 boxes.

1. Design

Credit: Apple

Back in 2020, Apple redesigned iPad Air 4th gen. This year it’s following the same design for the 5th gen iPad Air 2022 M1. It’s using the same boxier aluminum frame with rounded corners. The camera placement and the bump feel exactly the same. No face ID this time but it’s good to see touch ID staying in the power button just like the previous version.

That’s all that’s new in the design department.

2. Display

Credit: Apple

The iPad Air 2022 screen features a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display. It’s an LCD panel with a max brightness of 500 nits. Looking at the iPad’s specs sheet, this is not enough, especially when paying $599 for the base model.

However, in reality, when you are using this device it may not bother you as much. Its screen is sharp and perfectly calibrated as the AMOLED screens of many tablets. The display on iPad Air 2022 supports a wide P3 color gamut. The bezels are still there, these are not noticeable and also don’t interrupt productivity. It’s a great overall visual experience.

3. Performance

Credit: Apple

This is where the changes begin to get more visible. One of the major reasons why people went for the more expensive iPad Pro series was because it had superior performance with the M1 chipset. This year the performance gap is minimized due to the Apple inhouse M1 and 8-Gb of RAM. This 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU delivers up to 60 percent more performance and 2x faster graphics as compared to the previous-gen iPad Air with A14 bionic in it.

These total 16-core neural engines are a leap towards advanced machine learning, computational photography, Deep Fusion, AR and basically anything that’s graphic and performance-intensive. With the Type-C port, expect up to 2 times more data transfer speeds.

Apple iPad Air 2022 offers complete connectivity across all domains with its e-sim, 5G and Wifi-6 support. Such attention to detail only boosts the performance and productivity of the device.

4. Camera

Credit: gsmarena

You don’t buy tabs for their cameras. Nonetheless, iPad Air 2022 comes with a 12MP front camera.

The rear 12MP camera combined with the ultra image processing capabilities of the M1 chip delivers stunning images. “It’s an incredibly versatile and ultra-portable mobile studio”, Apple claims.

Augmented reality (AR), rear cam 4K video, deep fusion and computational photography are the highlights of this tablet. It’s arguably one of the finest cameras in any tablet.

5. Battery

Battery life has never been an issue with iPads. When Apple used the M1 in Macbook, the battery life was multiplied by twice or thrice depending upon the model. We have seen the same with iPad Pro with M1. Now that we have iPad Air M1, we expect some serious improvement in the battery life.

Apple claims incredible power efficiency and all-day battery life from iPad Air. It’s a 28.8 Wh cell powering this workhorse by Apple.

The price of iPad Air 2022

iPad Air 2022 starts at the base price of 599 USD for the wifi variant. Whereas the cellular + wifi model starts at 749 USD. According to Apple, iPad Air 2022 is available for order on Friday, March 11, 2022.

iPad Air 2022 vs iPad Air 2020: Is it any better?

Credit: gsmarena

Both the 4th and 5th generations of iPad offer exactly the same screen and design. What’s new in the iPad Air 2022 is the addition of the M1 chip. This has bumped up the performance game for this device. Not only the performance but these 16 neural engines in the chip are capable of doing regular productivity and photography chores effortlessly. It’s called a portable studio for a reason.

Specifications iPad Air 2022 (M1) iPad Air 2020 Display 10.9-inch, P3 color gamut with true tone 10.9-inch, wide color gamut with true tone Weight 461 g 458 g Touch ID On the power button On the power button Processor M1 16-core neural A14 bionic- 6 core Connectivity Wifi 6+ 5G Wifi 6 + LTE RAM 8-GB 4-GB GPU 8-core GPU integrated into the M1 Apple GPU 4 core Storage 64GB and 256 GB 64GB and 256 GB Front camera 12 MP ultra-wide with the center of the stage 7 MP wide Back camera 12MP wide with HDR and 4K video 12MP wide with HDR and 4K video Battery 28.8 Wh 28.93 Wh The processing speed isn’t the only thing that’s doubled. The RAM on iPad Air 2022 is also doubled to 8GB making it a powerhouse for those who seek it. The 12MP extra-wide camera now comes with the center of the stage technology so you can attend office meetings without worrying about being center of the frame.