The iPad Air, traditionally, has been the thinnest and lightest tablet that Apple has ever made. That has now changed with the latest crop of iPads, with the iPad Air now living in the middle in terms of its specs, price, and dimensions. There are plenty of upgrades to the new iPad Air, however, including a brand new size option that makes the display grow to 13 inches.
It's not got the pure processing beef or ridiculous OLED display of the iPad Pro M4, and it's not quite as cheap as the iPad 10th generation, but it's at a price that makes it the perfect iPad for just about everyone. It's powerful enough to run some pro-grade apps, yet affordable enough that it won't break the bank. You can buy one right now at the Apple Store (amongst other retailers), and comes in a whole bunch of different colors. It earned four and a half stars in our review, so you know you're getting a quality piece of tablet.
From specs to price and all things in between, here's everything you need to know about the iPad Air 6.
iPad Air 6: Features and specifications
iPad Air 6: M2 chip
The new iPad Air 6 comes with an M2 chip powering itself along, giving you plenty of beef to keep things running smoothly and quickly. One thing worth noting about the new iPad Air is that the specs that Apple gave us during the launch event were wrong — while Apple said it was going to have 10 graphics cores, it actually ended up with 9 when it landed in customers' hands. That's not a massive drop, and you won't notice in everyday use, but if you were buying it for the extra core you'll end up disappointed.
The M2 chip this time around places it two generations behind the 2024 iPad Pro, which comes equipped with a brand spanking new M4 chip, on account of its slick dual-layer OLED display, called the Ultra Retina XDR. That of course comes with a price bump all the way up to $1000 for the 11-inch model.
iPad Air 6: 13-inch model
The iPad Air now comes in two sizes — an 11-inch model, like before, but also a 13-inch model for people who want more screen space but don't want to pay the extra for the iPad Pro model. There aren't any massive spec differences between the two sizes of iPads, bar the screen size and resolution (which only changes based on the size of the screen).
There is a price increase for the 13-inch model, of course — it will set you back $749 instead of $599.
iPad Air 6: Landscape selfie camera
Just like the OLED iPad Pro, Apple debuted its entry-level iPad's landscape camera on the new iPad Air. The same 12MP Ultra Wide front camera from the iPad Air 5 remains, but it's in a different place on the display now.
This landscape camera is intended to make FaceTiming much easier, as it lets you place your iPad at any angle and still chat comfortably.
New Storage options
The new starting storage for the iPad Air 6 is 128GB, which is double the starting storage of the iPad Air 5. Both sizes of iPad Air 6 can be configured with the following storage options:
- 128GB
- 256GB
- 512GB
- 1TB
Colors
Both versions of iPad Air 6 are available in the following colors:
- Space Gray
- Blue
- Purple
- Starlight
Landscape stereo speakers
The new landscape stereo speakers are capable of Spatial Audio, for much better playback, and the 13-inch model has double the bass in its speaker, thanks to that increased size.
iPad Air 6: Price
The 11-inch iPad Air 6 starts at $599 for 128GB of storage but gets more expensive from there when you add more. The 13-inch 128GB model starts at $799. The 11-inch iPad Air 6 starts at the same price as the 64GB iPad Air 5.
Going from 128GB to 256GB on either model adds $100 to the price, with the 512GB version adding $200 to that, and the 1TB model adding $200 to that. So a fully tricked out 13-inch iPad Air 6 with 1TB costs $1,300.
Which iPad Air 6 rumors didn't come true?
iPad Air 6: mini-LED?
The 12.9-inch iPad Air 6 was expected to get a display bump, swapping an LED screen for the M2 iPad Pro's Mini-LED. Apple was reportedly going to use up previous inventory from the iPad Pro models which wouldn't have needed them, thanks to the rumored upgrade to OLED.
The same source that started this rumor later squashed it, stating "We no longer believe the upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Air will get a Mini-LED display." Instead, DSCC's Ross Young says that a new 12.9-inch mini-LED iPad will be released in the final quarter of 2024. We don't know what this model might be, but it clearly won't be an iPad Air 6.
