Apple Introduces New iPad Air With M1 Chip, 5G Support, And Front Camera Updates

Apple today introduced the new iPad Air with the Apple-designed M1 chip, new Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage feature, a USB-C por...

Apple today introduced the new iPad Air with the Apple-designed M1 chip, new Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage feature, a USB-C port with up to 2x faster transfer speeds, and 5G on cellular models.

“Whether it’s a college student taking elaborate notes, a content creator working on their latest project, or a gamer playing graphics-intensive titles, users love iPad Air for its amazing performance and versatility in such a portable design,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With the breakthrough M1 chip, Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage, and ultra-fast 5G, iPad Air is now more powerful, more capable, and simply more fun than ever.”

The M1 chip delivers a huge performance boost to the iPad Air while ensuring incredible power efficiency and all-day battery life. Compared to the previous-generation iPad Air, the 8-core CPU improves performance by up to 60%, and the 8-core graphics processor improves graphics performance by up to 2x. Along with the CPU and GPU, the 16-core Neural Engine will also be able to handle advanced machine learning capabilities, taking the experience to the next level.

The new iPad Air's Ultra Wide 12MP front camera supports Center Stage, which automatically tracks the user as they move so that the user is always in the frame. When other people join, the camera also detects them and zooms out smoothly, allowing them to also appear on the call screen.

In terms of connectivity, 5G allows iPad Air to reach peak network speeds of up to 3.5Gbps, not to mention the support of eSIM and Wi-Fi 6. The USB-C port is now up to 2x faster than the previous generation, with data transfers up to 10Gbps, and you can connect a wide range of USB-C accessories,  USB-C accessories, including cameras, external storage, and displays with up to 6K resolution.

Other features that this iPad Air offers include a Liquid Retina display, landscape stereo speakers, Touch ID, support for Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard, as well as an array of colors: space gray, starlight, pink, purple, and a stunning new blue.