iPad Air 5 test: should you fall for the tablet?

Is the iPad Air 5 the perfect iPad? According to Apple’s description, it is not far from it. By integrating the super-powerful M1 chip into the lightest and most mobile of its large-format iPads (from 11”), Apple would almost make it the ideal model for the general public.

In the range of Apple tablets, the iPad Air is between the iPad (ideal entry level for a first tablet or students) and the iPad Pro (for professionals), the iPad mini standing apart. But this year, by integrating the M1 chip, Apple brings it closer to an iPad Pro (apart from a few details which we will come back to) at a more affordable price.

On paper, the iPad Air 5 has everything to please in 2023. What is it in reality? Should we fall for this model? We tested it for several days, here is our complete test.

Yes, for M1 chip performance

This is the main novelty of the new iPad Air: the integration of the M1 chip. Like the iPad Pro, the lightest of the iPads therefore inherits the first chip from the Apple Silicon area. And of course, performance takes on a new dimension. Apple announces some figures, each more spectacular than the next. In short, the CPU is 60% faster than the A14 Bionic of the iPad Air 4, the GPU (graphics part) is twice as fast and the neural processor composed of 16 cores can perform 11 trillion operations simultaneously. All while saving energy consumption.

In practice, the iPad Air 5 can do everything the iPad Pro M1 already does, in a lighter format. Apart from a few small details (no Pro Motion on the screen, for example), the iPad Air 5 is almost identical to the 11” iPad Pro M1.

Concretely, the iPad Air 5 can therefore run the most powerful applications ever created since it embeds the same chip as a MacBook Pro (M1) which itself runs the most demanding software with disconcerting ease.

You can therefore retouch photos, produce 3D animations, video effects, or even edit in 4K HDR directly from your iPad Air 5. All with the flexibility and ease of use that such a product implies.

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Magic of the M1 chip, this boost of power does not disturb the energy performance of the tablet. Thereby, the iPad Air 5 can take about ten hours of classic use (web browsing, video, social networks, office automation) in its WiFi version. For creatives or intensive users, this autonomy is around 7/8 hours, which remains an excellent performance.

Count one to two hours less with the 5G model, especially when you use it in a train or car (signal search consumes a lot of energy). Concretely, you will therefore recharge the iPad Air 5 every two days on average if you use it as a professional machine on the move.

Good news, Apple continues to provide cable and charging block with its tablets. Bad news, the power caps here at 20W which makes recharging very slow (more than two hours).

Yes, for the thin, light and colorful design of the iPad 5

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Like its MacBook Air counterpart, the iPad Air has one feature that its siblings don’t: it is the thinnest and lightest 11” iPad. This new generation is no exception to the rule: with its 6.1 mm thickness and its 461g on the scale, the iPad Air 5 is a benchmark for mobility.

Dressed in fully recycled aluminum, it is also distinguished by its more fanciful colors. In addition to consensus Space grey and starlight (white/gold), the iPad Air 5 comes in pink, mauve and – the new kid on the block – blue (our test model). Enough to brighten up our workstations with gray, black or white hues, unless you have already equipped yourself with a colorful iMac M1.

What’s new other than that? Nothing, and that’s good. Apple uses a recipe that it masters to perfection and delivers a tablet that is certainly elegant, resolutely premium and definitely cut out for mobility (what are the adverbs?). A compendium of technology, as powerful as it is light.

Yes, for the beautiful screen of the iPad 5

The XDR panel is for the iPad Pro. The new iPad Air must be “satisfied” with the most classic but gorgeous Liquid Retina display.

Compatible True Tone, the 10.9” screen can display 100% of the P3 color gamut. Very bright, it has undergone an anti-reflective treatment which allows use in direct sunlight. We wrote part of this test on the terrace of a café under the radiant sun of Picardy (yes it is possible) without the reflections spoiling the readability.

We would have liked the integration of technology Promotion (refresh rate of 120 Hz) but Apple keeps (logically?) this nugget for the iPad Pro. The iPad Air 5 therefore displays content with a refresh rate of only 60 Hz. A bit fair for a machine sold from 699 euros.

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Despite everything, the excellent quality of the panel allows you to enjoy a multimedia experience with small onions. This very beautiful screen is also accompanied by a very pleasant audio configuration, the speakers broadcasting a very convincing stereophonic sound, especially for such a thin product.

Yes, because the iPad 5 has a new webcam

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At a time when teleworking is developing all over the world, the iPad Air lacked an essential component to really become a full-fledged productivity tool, or even a replacement for a laptop PC. This component is a webcam worthy of the name.

Apple therefore integrates a new 12 Mp front camera with an ultra-wide-angle lens (f/2.4). Everything is compatible with Center Stage (Frame centered in French), the new feature allowing the camera to follow the subject on the screen.

Center Stage works not only with FaceTime but also with a whole host of other video conferencing applications, from the very secure Cisco Webex Meetings to the most famous Zoom.

Mostly, Apple dramatically improves image quality since the front camera can shoot in Full HD (1080p). With a good fiber optic connection, the quality gain is obvious.

To support this image quality, Apple has also integrated the function Noise Reduction (Noise reduction in French) which comes to reduce the parasitic noises around the subject. Here again, the power of the M1 chip works miracles: the results are stunning.

No, for iPad 5 storage options

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With the iPad Air 5, Apple takes its most mobile tablet into the world of professionals. More powerful thanks to the M1 chip, it allows you to edit photos in RAW format, edit 4K videos, carry out 3D projects, use architecture applications, in short, as many uses requiring a comfortable storage memory.

You dreamed it, Apple did it: its incredible and magical iPad Air 5 is delivered, in its “standard” version, with 64 GB of storage. You read correctly. 64 GB. In 2022. Should we add anything? (Other than memory).

No, for the price of the iPad 5

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The choice of such light storage therefore makes us put the call price of the iPad Air 5 into perspective. If, on paper, such a well-equipped tablet sold for 699 euros (in WiFi version) seems to be a more than correct deal , its storage memory of only 64 GB forces us to turn to the top model with 256 GB of storage.

The price of this model is then 869 euros (in WiFi version) and 1039 euros (in WiFi + 5G version). Therefore the purchase of an iPad Air 5 is to be compared to an iPad Pro M1 of 11 ”, a little better equipped and sold 899 euros in WiFi version with a storage of 128 GB. Certainly we lose in storage but it remains quite sufficient for the use that will be made of such a model.

The iPad Air 5 becomes almost Pro

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In the game of the seven differences, difficult to reach the end if we compare the iPad Air 5 to the iPad Pro M1 11 ”. Among the main differences, we note the XDR screen with Pro Motion or the integration of more advanced photo sensors as well as the LiDAR scanner.

Instead of the 12MP camera, the 11-inch iPad Pro M1 sports TrueDepth technology with FaceID. In replacement of facial recognition, the iPad Air 5 therefore inherits Touch ID, camouflaged under the on/off button. Everything else is the same.

If Apple had renamed its iPad Air 5 to iPad Pro Light (in every sense of the word), the range would have almost gained in readability. In summary, the iPad Air 5 is arguably the most mobile of the iPad Pros.

Our opinion on the iPad Air 5

If you’re looking for one of the most powerful and mobile iPads, then the iPad Air 5 is the one for you. Although it incorporates the super-powerful M1 chip, this new iPad Air remains a model of finesse and lightness with a design that is as cool as it is elegant. It remains in 2023 one of, if not the best tablet available.

Borrowings from the iPad Pro M1 are numerous. Even if Apple sacrifices a few technologies (Pro Motion, Face ID, camera), the iPad Air 2022 edition can easily replace a laptop for most uses. For this, you will still have to pay a few hundred extra euros to equip yourself with the Apple Pencil 2 stylus as well as a keyboard case.

Finally, we will only blame this iPad Air 5 for its storage capacity of only 64 GB for the standard model. Sold 699 euros with 64 GB, this version is almost anecdotal, so Apple almost forces its customers to move towards the 256 GB version, sold for 839 euros. That’s only 30 less than the iPad Pro M1 11″ (128 GB).