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Apple announces new iPad Air featuring M1 chip and 5G

Pre-orders for the new iPad Air begin this Friday, March 11.

Morgan Shaver

March 8, 2022 10:33 AM

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During Apple’s Peek Performance special event, a brand new iPad Air was revealed featuring an M1 chip similar to the iPad Pro and MacBook Air along with optional 5G support. According to Apple, the new iPad Air is two times faster than the best-selling Windows laptop in the same price range.

Speaking of price, the new iPad Air will be available starting at $599 (USD) with pre-orders live this Friday, March 11, ahead of the iPad Air’s targeted release date of March 18. The iPad Air will offer 64 and 256GB options, wi-fi and cellular model options, and comes packed with a number of fantastic features.

For example, the new iPad Air supports ultra-fast 5G, and comes with iPad OS 15, a new 12 megapixel Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage support, a gorgeous 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with 3.8 million pixels and 500 nits of brightness, a P3 wide color gamut, True Tone, anti-reflective screen coating, 4K video, Touch ID, 100 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure, and accessory support for things like Apple Pencil (2nd generation) and Magic Keyboard.

Other things you can look forward to with the new iPad Air include improved battery life, USB-C with 2x faster transfer speed (data transfers up to 10Gbps), 60 percent faster CPU, True Tone display, and more. Of course the big kicker for the new iPad Air is that M1 chip. In a news post from Apple about the new iPad Air, the M1 chip's importance is detailed as follows: 

For more on the new iPad Air, check out the full news post from Apple. And to catch up with everything else shown during Apple's Peek Performance event, be sure to read through our full recap of all product reveals and announcements.

Morgan Shaver

Senior Editor

Morgan is a writer from the frozen wastelands of Maine who enjoys metal music, kpop, horror, and indie games. They're also a Tetris fanatic who's fiercely competitive in games like Tetris 99... and all games in general. But mostly Tetris. You can follow Morgan on Twitter @Author_MShaver.