Apple Unveils All-new iPad Air with A14 Bionic, Apple’s Most Advanced Chip

The most powerful iPad Air ever features new all-screen design with larger 10.9-inch display, new 12MP rear camera, next-generation Touch ID sensor, and more

Apple today introduced an all-new iPad Air — the most powerful, versatile, and colorful iPad Air ever. Now available in five gorgeous finishes, iPad Air features an all-screen design with a larger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, camera and audio upgrades, a new integrated Touch ID sensor in the top button, and the powerful A14 Bionic for a massive boost in performance, making this by far the most powerful and capable iPad Air ever made. The new iPad Air will be available starting next month.

“Today we’re excited to introduce a completely redesigned and far more powerful iPad Air, debuting Apple’s most powerful chip ever made, the A14 Bionic,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With its gorgeous new all-screen design, larger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, next-generation Touch ID, and a massive boost in performance with A14 Bionic, the new iPad Air brings customers powerful pro features at an even more affordable price. Along with major upgrades to the iPad Pro and eighth-generation iPad this year, and the powerful new features of iPadOS 14, this is our strongest iPad lineup ever, giving our customers even more ways to enrich their daily lives.”

All-New iPad Air Design in Five Beautiful Finishes

The new iPad Air features a completely new thin and light design in five gorgeous finishes: silver, space gray, rose gold, green, and sky blue. The new all-screen design features a larger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display for a stunning visual experience, with 3.8 million pixels and advanced technologies, including full lamination, P3 wide color support, True Tone, and an anti-reflective coating for an amazing visual experience. To allow the display to extend on all sides, a next-generation Touch ID sensor is integrated into the top button, providing the same fast, easy, and secure way to unlock iPad Air, log in to apps, or use Apple Pay that customers know and love. iPad Air is compatible with Magic Keyboard and its floating design, and built-in trackpad, Smart Keyboard Folio, and new Smart Folio covers, as well as Apple Pencil, which attaches magnetically to the side for easy pairing, charging, and storing.¹

The new iPad Air features a completely new thin and light design in five gorgeous finishes: silver, space gray, rose gold, green, and sky blue.

Most Powerful iPad Air with A14 Bionic

iPad Air delivers a massive boost in performance with Apple’s most advanced chip, A14 Bionic. Handling even the most demanding apps, A14 Bionic makes it even easier for users to edit 4K videos, create gorgeous works of art, play immersive games, and more. Using breakthrough 5-nanometer process technology, A14 Bionic is packed with 11.8 billion transistors for increased performance and power efficiency in nearly every part of the chip. This latest-generation A-series chip features a new 6-core design for a 40 percent boost in CPU performance, and a new 4-core graphics architecture for a 30 percent improvement in graphics.² To deliver breakthrough machine learning capabilities, A14 Bionic includes a new 16-core Neural Engine that is twice as fast, and capable of performing up to 11 trillion operations per second, taking machine learning apps to a whole new level. A14 Bionic also includes second-generation machine learning accelerators in the CPU for 10 times faster machine learning calculations. This combination of the new Neural Engine, CPU machine learning accelerators, and high-performance GPU enables powerful on-device experiences for image recognition, natural language learning, analyzing motion, and more.

A14 Bionic includes a new 16-core Neural Engine that’s capable of performing up to 11 trillion operations per second, taking machine learning apps like djay Pro AI to a whole new level.

Upgraded Camera and Immersive Audio

iPad Air, which includes a 7MP front-facing FaceTime HD camera, now features the same 12MP rear camera used in iPad Pro for higher resolution photos and 4K video capture. The new design of iPad Air features stereo speakers in landscape mode, elevating the audio experience so users can enjoy wider stereo sound while watching video.

iPad Air now features a USB-C port for up to 5Gbps data transfer, which is 10 times faster,² for connecting to cameras, hard drives, and external monitors up to 4K. With Wi-Fi 6 performance and 60 percent faster LTE connectivity,³ along with A14 Bionic, this is by far the most powerful iPad Air ever.

The new design of iPad Air features stereo speakers in landscape mode so users can enjoy wider stereo sound while watching video.

Distinct iPad Experience with iPadOS 14

iPadOS 14, available beginning Wednesday, September 16, brings new features and designs that take advantage of the unique capabilities of iPad, such as its large Multi-Touch display, and versatile accessories. iPadOS 14 further integrates Apple Pencil into the iPad experience for better note-taking capabilities, and new ways to work with handwritten notes. When taking notes on iPad, Smart Selection uses on-device machine learning to distinguish handwriting from drawings, so handwritten text can easily be selected, cut, and pasted into another document as typed text using the same familiar gestures. Shape recognition allows users to draw shapes that are made geometrically perfect and snap right into place when adding diagrams and illustrations in Notes. Data detectors work seamlessly with handwritten text, recognizing phone numbers, dates, addresses, and links, making it easy for users to perform actions like tapping a handwritten number to make a call.

iPadOS 14 also brings Scribble to iPad, allowing Apple Pencil users to handwrite directly in any text field, making actions like replying to a quick iMessage or searching in Safari fast and easy — all without ever needing to put Apple Pencil away. Scribble uses on-device machine learning to convert handwriting into typed text in real time, so writing is always kept private and secure.

iPadOS 14 makes the iPad experience even more distinctive and powerful in other ways, including:

• New compact designs for incoming FaceTime and phone calls, Siri interactions, and Search to help users stay focused on the task at hand.
• Universal Search to quickly find practically anything, from locating and launching apps, to accessing contacts, files, and information, to getting answers to common questions about people or places.
• New sidebars for many apps including Photos and Files, and streamlined toolbars that consolidate controls into a single place, making them more useful than ever.
• Beautifully redesigned widgets that present timely information at a glance right on the Home Screen.

Most Environmentally Friendly, Most Advanced iPad Lineup Ever

The new iPad Air is designed to be environmentally friendly and supports Apple’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2030. The iPad Air uses a 100 percent recycled aluminum enclosure and 100 percent recycled tin for the solder on its main logic board. The new speakers in iPad Air also use magnets with 100 percent recycled rare earth elements. iPad Air remains free of harmful substances, is highly energy efficient, and uses wood fiber packaging that is recycled or comes from responsibly managed forests.

iPad Air joins the powerful iPad Pro, the eighth-generation iPad, and iPad mini to form the most advanced iPad lineup ever. With support for Apple Pencil, best-in-class performance, advanced displays, and all-day battery life,⁴ whether customers prioritize portability, power, or price, there’s an iPad for everyone. Learn more about the iPad family at apple.com/ipad/compare.

Pricing and Availability

• Pricing and Availability

  • The new iPad Air will be available starting next month on apple.com and in the Apple Store app in 30 countries and regions, including the US. Wi-Fi models of iPad Air will be available with a starting price of $599 (US) and Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at $729 (US). The new iPad Air, in 64GB and 256GB configurations, will be available in five beautiful finishes including silver, space gray, rose gold, green, and sky blue.

  • iPadOS 14, the powerful operating system designed specifically for iPad, ships for free with the new eighth-generation iPad and new iPad Air, and will be available as a free software update tomorrow for all iPad Pro models, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later.

  • Apple Pencil (2nd generation), available for purchase separately for $129 (US), is compatible with iPad Air.

  • Magic Keyboard and the Smart Keyboard Folio for iPad Air are available for purchase separately for $299 (US) and $179 (US), respectively, both with layouts for over 30 languages, including simplified Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

  • Smart Folios are available for iPad Air for $79 (US) in black, white, and three new seasonal colors including deep navy, cyprus green, and pink citrus.

  • Education pricing for individuals, including current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and homeschool teachers of all grade levels, is available for $549 (US) for the new iPad Air. The second-generation Apple Pencil is available for $119 (US), the Smart Keyboard Folio is available for $159 (US), and Magic Keyboard for $279 (US). For more information, visit apple.com/us-hed/shop.

  • Apple One is the easiest way to get many Apple subscription services at a great value, so customers can choose the one plan that is right for them or their whole family. Customers can sign up for Apple One starting this fall.

  • For a limited time, customers who purchase a new iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, Mac, or iPod touch can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free.⁵

  • Customers looking for convenient, contactless service are able to find many of the same shopping and support services from apple.com. Customers can chat with an Apple Specialist and get shopping help, choose monthly financing options, trade in eligible devices, and get Genius support and no-contact delivery. In-store pickup is also available. Customers are encouraged to check apple.com/retail for more information on the health and safety measures in place, and the services available at their local store.

  • Customers in the US can trade in their eligible device for an Apple Gift Card or credit toward their purchase. If the device isn’t eligible for credit, Apple will recycle it for free.⁶

  • When customers buy online from Apple, they can make iPad and Apple Pencil (2nd generation) their own with free engraving.

  • Customers in the US who buy directly from Apple can choose Apple Card monthly installments to pay for their iPad over 12 months, interest-free, and get 3 percent Daily Cash back all upfront. Customers who choose to pay in full with their Apple Card also get 3 percent Daily Cash back.

  • Customers can extend their limited warranty with AppleCare+ and get 24/7 priority access to technical support.

  • Every customer who buys iPad from Apple can enjoy a free Online Personal Session with an Apple Specialist to help them explore and discover all of the amazing things they can do with their new iPad.

Source: Apple