The New iPad Air Has a Speedy M1 Chip

Apple just announced a brand new iPad Air at its March event, and the tablet is getting a massive performance upgrade in the form of Apple’s M1 chip.

The core design of the iPad Air remains more or less unchanged, as it still has a look and feel that’s similar to the iPad Pro. The significant changes are the ones you don’t see, as the Apple Silicon M1 chip will make the tablet much faster than previous generations. In fact, Apple says the CPU is up to 60% faster than the A14 found in the last generation’s model. It also doubles the graphics power of its predecessor.

RELATEDWhat Is 5G, and How Fast Is It?

The new iPad Air features 5G connectivity as an option. If you want your tablet to be connected to fast mobile internet at all times, this could be the killer feature that makes you want to take one of these tablets home.

As for the screen, Apple didn’t mention whether there’s ProMotion support, but it did say that the screen is 10.9″ with a peak brightness of 500 nits and HDR support.

The front-facing camera has been bumped to 12MP from the 7MP camera on the previous model. The rear camera is also 12-megapixels.

Apple also included USB-C connectivity, Apple’s Magic Keyboard support, and the ability to use the tablet with Apple’s Pencil stylus.

Perhaps most appealing is the price, as Apple is selling the new iPad Air starting at $599, which is quite reasonable for the performance improvements the company has made to the device. If you want the version with 5G support, the price jumps to $749.

Like the new iPhone SE, preorders start on March 11, and the new iPad Air will ship on March 18, 2022.

RELATED: Apple’s New iPhone SE Is as Fast as an iPhone 13