The news: Apple announced a minor update to the iPad Air at their Peek Performance event on March 8. Here are some of the smaller changes the company made.
- The USB-C port supports up to 2x faster transfer speeds than the previous iPad Air
- Because the M1 chip powers iPad Air now, there is now 8GB inside…double the previous generation
- Extended dynamic range for video up to 30 fps is now supported on the front-facing and rear cameras
- The Wi-Fi only version of the new iPad Air weighs are negligible 0.02 pounds more than last generation
- One of the flagship features is 5G…but this tablet only supports the slower sub-6 GHz standard (not the ultra-fast mmWave)
Sam’s take: Overall, this is an incredibly small update…unless you consider the M1 chip inside, which you can now get in an iPad for $599. That’ll be pointless for most folks, though, considering that iPadOS continues to be so limited year after year. Aside from that, the faster USB-C port is nice, I guess?
