Apple iPad Air 2019 review: Premium tablet choice

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Put simply, the iPad Air has to work extra hard to justify its asking price, especially as it sits not only well above the regular iPad but uncomfortably close to the entry-level iPad Pro. Does it succeed? It very much comes down to what you want out of a tablet and how long you want it to last.

Design

Design

• Lighter than the regular iPad
• True Tone Retina Display is lovely
• Still has a headphone jack!
• Standard Apple colour choices

• Read more about the iPad Air 2019's design

  One of the reasons why Apple is able to call this particular model the "iPad Air" is that it's notably thinner and lighter than the entry-level model iPad. Either model measures in at 250.6x174.1mm, but the iPad Air is only 6.1mm deep, compared to the 7.5mm on the regular model iPad. The iPad Air is also lighter, at just 456–464 grams (Wi-Fi or LTE) compared to 483–493 grams for the regular iPad.

  That's not a difference that you're going to notice unless you do happen to be weighing them up side by side. But it does contribute to one of the iPad Air's selling arguments, because it gives it a small touch of luxury and Apple very much likes to position itself as a luxury brand.

  Much of that width difference comes down to the fact that the regular Apple iPad has a discernible air gap between the front glass and the actual display, where the iPad Air's glass sits neatly against the glass. This lowers reflectivity, but it's not the only trick that the Apple iPad Air brings into play. Apple markets them both as "Retina" displays, but as always that's a quite meaningless marketing term.

  2,160x1,620 pixels is enough to be "Retina" for the regular iPad and the iPad Air bumps that up slightly to 2,224x1,668, which is presumably "Retina plus a few pixels you wouldn't spot unless you squint really hard". Naturally, that doesn't look quite so good in the marketing copy.

  Where the Apple iPad Air's display does make more of an impact is the fact that it also supports Apple's True Tone technology. This measures the ambient light and adjusts the display on the fly to render a more accurate white under any given circumstance. No, the iPad Air isn't deeply racist – in this case it's a question of accurate colour display because if you can crack getting white to display properly without any kind of tint then you can render any other colour more accurately even if you're in a darkened or overly bright environment. True tone really does make a significant difference to just about every display task on the iPad Air, whether you're simply scrolling web pages or watching video.

  

  The controls on the iPad Air follow the classic iPad scheme, with a TouchID sensor at the base, volume controls at the top right and power button nestled just above. The left-hand side houses the connector that makes the iPad Air compatible with Apple's smart keyboard, a feature that works across all of the full-size iPad models. Sorry, iPad Mini owners, no shrunk-down Apple keyboard for you.

  It's also one of an increasingly limited number of Apple devices that still has a regular 3.5mm headphone jack. Naturally, Apple would prefer that you hooked up with a pair of AirPods Pro or perhaps the Beats Solo Pro than a pair of cabled headphones, but at least the option still exists.

  While Apple has become somewhat fancy with phones such as the Apple iPhone 11, the Apple iPad Air 2019 retains Apple's colour choice from years past, which means you've got silver, grey or gold – sorry, "Silver", "Space Grey" or "Gold" – finishes to choose from. Silver and Gold iPad Air models feature a white bezel around the display, while the Space Grey model uses a black bezel. I tested with a Space Grey model and I did find the black bezel less distracting than the higher-contrast white.

Performance

Performance

• A12 gives the iPad Air more of a future than the regular iPad
• LTE if you want it, but it's pricey
• Predictably, only fixed storage on offer
• Camera is present but not exciting

• Read more about the iPad Air 2019's performance

  Apple saves its very best processors for the more expensive iPad Pro line, but it still leaves a performance gap between the iPad Air and the regular model iPad. Buy the cheaper option iPad and you'll be using an Apple A10 chip. That's been the case for the past couple of years. It's basically an iPhone 7 with a bigger screen.

  The iPad Air, on the other hand runs on an Apple A12 chip – it's essentially a huge iPhone XS to stretch that comparison just a little further. Apple doesn't formally state its RAM specifications online, but iFixit's teardown reveals that it's using 3GB of RAM. Like every other iPad model there's no capacity for storage expansion, which means you're stuck with either 64GB or 256GB of onboard storage.

  That processor jump does make a difference in day-to-day performance and in benchmarks too. Here's how the Apple iPad Air 2019 compares to the Apple iPad 2019 using Geekbench 5's CPU and 3DMark's Ice Storm benchmarks:

  One of the realities of using iPadOS is that Apple heavily optimises everything. This means that even that lower-scoring iPad rarely feels "slow" in day-to-day usage, unless you're throwing very intensive apps at it. The iPad Air isn't quite a pro-grade tablet – Apple has the iPad Pro for that, naturally – but it does run faster than the Apple iPad. Today, that might not have that much perceptible impact unless you are running them side by side as I've done for this review.

  However, where it does have some potential impact is in the next two to four years. Apple updates iPadOS annually and it typically hits a performance window with older devices where it can't (or won't) offer OS upgrades because they won't run new features, or at least run them well.

  While I can't claim any specific knowledge of Apple's inner workings – for some reason they won't accept my claims that I'm Tim Cook when I turn up in Cupertino – it doesn't take too much crystal ball gazing to suggest that Apple will most likely drop support for the A10-based Apple iPad before it does the A12-based Apple iPad Air.

  You can opt for either a Wi-Fi or LTE model of the Apple iPad Air. LTE adds a little weight and the ability to use either an eSIM or Nano SIM with a mobile data plan from your choice of carrier. It's a pricey option to add to any iPad Air. Adding that Nano SIM tray and an internal eSIM is worth an extra $200 on the cost of the iPad Air, which is a sharp price to pay for the convenience of not having to tether to your iPhone or Wi-Fi hotspot.

  Apple's camera technology for its iPhone lines has improved massively in recent years and the iPhone 11 Pro Max is one of my current favourite phones to use for photography.

  The Apple iPad Air… much less so. It's not just a question of the unwieldy nature of using a 10.5-inch display camera, although that does play a part. It's also because it's equipped with a single 8MP rear camera and front-facing 7MP camera. That's handy for FaceTime calls, but much less exciting when it comes to taking snaps of nearby landscapes or my cats. As always, if it's the only camera in reach it's better than a crayon sketch, but there's no instance where I wouldn't go for the phone in my pocket first if it was feasible.

  

  

  

Battery life

Performance

• 10 hours battery life possible
• Lightning recharging only

• Read more about the iPad Air 2019's battery life

  Apple has always been cagey about the actual battery capacity of its iPad lines and the Apple iPad Air 2019 is no exception. Officially speaking, its 30.2‐watt‐hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery is capable of "up to 10 hours" of battery life.

  That's the same figure that Apple has given for iPads for years now and the practical reality for most users is that you're not likely to engage in too many 10-hour-straight usage sessions with the iPad Air anyway.

  It's a mostly achievable figure, although that's substantially more based around activities with lower power draw like listening to Apple Music or video watching and less so for more battery-intensive activities such as gaming. Over some months of testing the iPad Air – the model photographed is one I own – I can comfortably get through to around the 10-hour mark in most cases. Like most users, though, the opportunities to just kick back with a Netflix binge or gaming session of extreme duration are sadly too far and few between.

  While the Apple iPad Pro has switched to USB-C charging and connectivity, which is exceptionally handy if you have other USB-C devices, including newer MacBooks, because you only need the one charging cable, the Apple iPad Air is still a lightning cable zone for charging purposes.

Verdict

Should you buy it?

The Apple iPad Air 2019 does have a technical edge on the regular model Apple iPad, but it's still not the case that it can do things that the cheaper model cannot.

That's why the standard model iPad remains our pick of the current Apple crop for most users after a content consumption device. The Apple iPad Air is a nice option if you want that slightly more luxury feel of the True Tone display or if you do have a lot of heavy app usage in mind that needs the power of the Apple A12 chip. There's also the longer-term view that it will retain value longer due to future iOS upgrades, but if you're on that path, it's certainly well worth considering going the full-fat Apple iPad Pro instead.

Pricing and availability

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Specifications

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