iPad Air gets a big refresh that adds in the M1 chip and more

Apple have announced that the iPad Air is getting an update, featuring all new colours, 5G mobile connectivity, a new wide angle front camera and the M1 chip to power it all.

“Whether it’s a college student taking elaborate notes, a content creator working on their latest project or a gamer playing graphics-intensive titles, users love iPad Air for its amazing performance and versatility in such a portable design,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With the breakthrough M1 chip, Ultra Wide front camera with Centre Stage and ultrafast 5G, iPad Air is now more powerful, more capable and simply more fun than ever.”

One of the big changes for this latest model is the inclusion of the M1 chip, which made it into most iPads last year. The 8-core CPU delivers up to 60 per cent faster performance, and the 8-core GPU delivers up to 2x faster graphics performance compared to the previous iPad Air. Combined with the CPU and GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine powers advanced machine learning (ML) functions that enable next-level experiences. From editing multiple streams of 4K video, to playing graphics-intensive games, redesigning a room in 3D and more realistic augmented reality (AR), the performance of M1 enables users to do more than ever with iPad Air.

For those who love to use the camera on iPad for content creation, the 12MP Wide camera on the back of iPad Air lets users capture sharp photos and 4K video, scan documents and enjoy amazing AR experiences. An end-to-end solution for photo and video capture, editing and sharing, iPad Air is an incredibly versatile and ultraportable mobile studio.

If you are more about sharing yourself, then the Ultra Wide 12MP front camera with Centre Stage automatically pans to keep users in view as they move around.

As far as ways to connect to the iPad Air go, you can use a range of bluetooth enabled devices, which can be obtained from anywhere, or you can pair it with the Apple Magic Keyboard, or the less gravity defying Smart Keyboard Folio.

Both keyboard types, as well as the iPad Air itself are coming in five new colours, electric orange, dark cherry, English lavender and marine blue, plus the traditional black and white for the keyboards.

Orders for the new iPad will be open this Friday March 12 and in-stores to buy on March 18. Prices for them start at $929 for the Wi-Fi only model and $1,159 for those with mobile support. The new iPad Air, in 64GB and 256GB configurations, comes in space grey, starlight, pink, purple and blue finishes.