(Credit: Eric Zeman)
LONDON—On the ground at Apple's Battersea event in London, the company had live demos showcasing the power of the M4-equipped iPad Air it announced on Monday. The M4 iPad Air is even quicker at processing creative tasks in Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator, and Apple Intelligence takes a firm step forward. Here are my early thoughts on the improved tablet.
No Changes to the Hardware
If you were hoping for a design refresh, gird yourself for disappointment. The iPad Air's design is mature and, according to Apple reps on-site, will remain the same for a while. Apple noted that its customers have come to rely on the form factor staying unchanged for accessory compatibility. That's fair, and honestly, there's not much to improve at this point.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)This means you get a great-looking and great-feeling slate. The iPad Air is thin and light, even with the 13-inch model. It's got a clean and simple design that works as-is. The screen really pops. The buttons are appropriately clicky, and the USB-C port and camera module are unchanged.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)If there are any upgrades I'd like to see, it would be Face ID. The Touch ID fingerprint reader works fine, but Face ID is often more convenient. Also, Apple could bump the USB-C port from USB-2 to USB-3.
What's New? The Silicon
Apple swapped out the M3 chip for its M4 chip. That's the primary improvement over the previous model. It also adopts the Apple C1X modem for 5G, and Apple's N1 chip, which combines Bluetooth 6.0 and Wi-Fi 7. The previous generation relies on a different modem and has Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6e. So, yes, the speeds and feeds are all greased up for quick performance.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)Do spec bumps matter? In short, yes. It may not make a lot of sense to upgrade from the M3 Air to the M4 Air, but if you're coming from an older iPad Air, this will deliver a significant boost across the board.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)To show off just how much faster, Apple showed me how to edit video and audio clips together. We pieced together a string of video snippets and then chose to set it to music. With just a few taps, you can generate a generic track that matches the video's pacing. It happened in the blink of an eye. All the processing took place on-device—it didn't rely on the cloud at all.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)We also did some basic drawing in Pixelmator. I drew a picture of a dragonfly (very badly), and the app used Apple Intelligence to create an illustrated drawing for the document.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)If you're a student or perform creative work, having the power to do these things in an affordable device is clutch. The iPad Air starts at an affordable $599 and fits in well with these types of workflows.
I expect to publish a review of the new Apple iPad Air in the weeks ahead. Be sure to check back before too long.