Apple iPad Air 5th Gen (10.9 Inch, 2022)

Great display ; Support for excellent accessories ; Seriously powerful internals ; Attractive design and array of colours

Annoying front camera placement ; No 128GB storage option ; Creaky body

Improvements haven’t been made in the areas I’d hoped for. Nevertheless, the iPad Air 2022 remains a superb tablet in a number of ways: it looks great, supports class-leading accessories, and comes packing top-notch performance.

Astounding M1 chip ; Great 10.9-inch screen ; Wealth of tablet-optimised apps ; Gorgeous design and colours ; 5G option

iPadOS can limit creative work ; 60Hz screen ; Middling camera ; Average battery life

The iPad Air (2022) gives you a great screen, ridiculous amounts of power, a cool and sleek design, and useful extra features. iPadOS is user friendly and packed with apps to take advantage of it, though is also still the thing that stops it reach its...

Great design ; Speedy performance ; Incredibly versatile

Too close in cost to iPad Pro ; Battery life only average ; 64GB is too little storage for base model

Excellent performance thanks to Apple M1 processor ; Improved front-facing camera ; 2nd Gen Apple Pencil stylus support

Still no Face ID ; Storage limited to 256GB (and still no 128GB option) ; Rear camera isn't great ; Accessories are expensive

If you don't need the scale of the iPad Pro, but want something more exciting than the 9th Gen iPad, the 2022 iPad Air's addition of an M1 processor helps future-proof it when it comes to running those ever-increasing power-hungry apps. If you own the...

Near-identical to iPad Pro 11 ; Incredible M1 performance ; iPadOS 15 is well polished

Display limited to 60Hz ; No Face ID ; Build quality issues with our sample

The iPad Air (2022) continues to be the sweet spot in Apple’s tablet collection, offering more similarities to the premium iPad Pro 11 than ever without a dramatic price increase. It does practically everything you’ll need from an iPad, and the M1 chip...

M1 chip means it's crazy fast ; Gorgeous display ; Thin and light body ; Works with iPad Pro accessories ; Deep integration with Macs

Display capped at 60Hz ; Battery life could be better ; Big step up in price over basic iPad ; Accessories sold separately and pricey

Fantastic 10.9-inch display ; Contains Apple’s M1 chip ; Design remains premium

No Face ID biometrics ; Yes, it’s still pretty expensive ; No 120Hz refresh rate

The

If you want crazy levels of performance, pretty colours, and a clean modern design that’s close the Pro models, then the Air lets you have that on a (relative) budget. For most people though, the price increase of the Air in recent years will make it a...