Apple announced the iPad Air (2020) on September 15 at a price of Rs 54,900. Though the iPad Air (2020) doesn’t come with any revolution compared with other Apple tablets, it does have many features that were once exclusive to the iPad Pro only. Along with that, the price tag further makes this device an attractive deal. Despite being not as powerful as the iPad Pro, the iPad Air (2020) is a great device among cheaper tablets on the market.

Design

The iPad Air is designed similarly to the iPad Pro with the home button removed for an all-screen design, making it more in line with the Pro lineup.

Compared with the iPad Air 3, the new 2020 model feels much more premium though it still features thick bezels around the display like those on the iPad Pro. This time, the edges are more-squared and sharper than the edges on previous models, but they may not immediately sit comfortably in the palm. Regardless, the design gives the iPad Air 4 a more premium look that’s more in line with the Pro range as well as the iPhone 12 lineup.

The tablet has four speakers, two on the bottom edge, and two on the top edge while the top-left edge houses a lock button and the Touch ID scanner for unlocking the device. In testing, the scanner works well, requiring little effort for the thumb to reach the spot. There are volume up and volume down buttons on the right-hand edge along with a magnetic connector to charge the Apple Pencil.

The rear side houses a second Smart Connector that can be used to connect the Smart Keyboard and other products. The iPad Air 2020 supports several accessories including the 2nd-gen Apple Pencil. The Smart Keyboard is useful for processing word documents while the Apple Pencil helps with taking notes, sketching, and signing documents in your handwriting.

The Wi-Fi version weighs 458 grams and the LTE version weighs 460 grams, both of which measure 247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1 millimeters. The biggest upgrade is probably the range of color options, including Sky Blue, Green, Rose Gold, Space Grey, and Silver. Previously, users had to buy cases to personalize their tablets as most iPad came in one shade.

Display

The iPad Air 2020 comes with a Liquid Retina screen that measures 10.9 inches, a size large enough for optimized use but not too big to hold with both hands.

It features a resolution of 2360 x 1640 pixels and a pixel density of 264 ppi. The display is great for watching videos, showing vibrant colors and high maximum brightness for a premium viewing experience on streaming services like Netflix.

However, the thick black borders around the screen mean the tablet doesn’t offer a premium feel like some Android tablets, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, which costs much more than the iPad Air 2020.

The display has a refresh rate of 60Hz, not the 120Hz rate as in the Pro range so the scrolling experience won’t be as smooth as on the Pro model.

Specifications, performance, and camera

With some of the latest and best components for a tablet, the iPad Air 4 even beats the iPad Pro on the paper, powered by the A14 Bionic processor. The A14 chipset turns out to work incredibly well on the iPad Air 4, which opens apps instantly and handles multitasking easily along with other sophisticated tasks.

The RAM capacity on this device hasn’t been revealed yet, but we hope to learn about this spec later. The A14 processor is supposedly better than the A12Z Bionic chip, but multitasking requires a great deal of raw power that the A12Z can provide with its eight cores as opposed to the A14’s four cores.

However, for a moderate user that doesn’t edit videos or other intensive tasks, or for those willing to wait longer for a task to complete, this iPad offers ideal performance.

In terms of internal storage, there are two options, 64GB and 256GB, which can be an issue if you need a lot of storage. Without support for the microSD card, the 64GB storage is not enough for most users these days.

On the back of the tablet, there is a 12MP primary camera that can also be used for augmented reality. Though you may not use it to take photos often, it does offer shots beautiful enough to post on social media.

There is a 7MP selfie lens on the front of the device, which isn’t as impressive as cameras on some other Android tablets but can help you make video calls.

However, since the front-facing camera is placed on the top bezel of the display, making video calls in the landscape mode would be awkward.

Software

Running on iPad OS 14, the iPad Air 2020 likely has the best software currently available on a tablet. It optimizes all the important apps though some applications like Instagram don’t work as well as you may expect. The operating system also comes with widgets and other features.

Battery life

Apple hasn’t revealed the battery capacity of the iPad Air 2020 either, but the performance may be as good as that of previous models. Testing shows that the battery can last for about 10 hours on one charge.