Summary
The iPad Air's purpose has become more and more unclear as Apple has introduced new tablets.
The Air is essentially a less expensive version of the Pro, which wasn't the original pitch.
Apple's pricing ladder uses the Air to encourage spending on more expensive upgrades, like the Pro.
The new M3 iPad Air is an odd duck. Not because it's bad -- far from it -- but because Apple just updated the iPad Air a year ago. The company's middle-of-the-pack tablet got the M2 chip, updated webcam placement, and support for the new Apple Pencil Pro in 2024. The price of the Air didn't change when it got the M3 chip a few weeks ago, but that doesn't make what the tablet is for make sense.
Like the original MacBook Air , the iPad Air served a specific function in Apple's range of tablets. It was a premium, portable option when compared to the norm. The problem is, the Air doesn't really serve that purpose anymore. It's become something else entirely: another tool to get you to spend more, instead of just a useful tablet in its own right.
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The iPad Air was once Apple's take on the future of the tablet
Premium portability was the name of the game
The original white iPad Air leaning against a potted plant.
Apple introduced the first iPad Air in 2013 as the next step in the evolution of the iPad. It was timed to the release of iOS 7, already a pretty dramatic redesign of Apple's most important operating system, and featured a new design that was "20 percent thinner and 28 percent lighter than the fourth-generation iPad, and with a 43 percent narrower bezel," according to the company's press release at the time. The tablet was such a significant upgrade that it became the main iPad Apple offered, unless you wanted the smaller screen of the iPad mini.
At this point, what does Air really mean?
At least until Apple introduced the 5th generation iPad, which had more or less the body of the original iPad Air, at which point the iPad Air became a more premium option, with a higher-resolution, laminated display. Until there was a new high-end option, the iPad Pro, which wasn't only more expensive, but also had access to accessories like keyboard cases and styluses, and a larger 12.9-inch display. That left the iPad Air in the middle, even after it gained the ability to use the accessories of the Pro. But then Apple complicated things further by releasing a new M4 iPad Pro that's lighter and thinner than the current iPad Air. At this point, what does Air really mean?
It's all about building out Apple's "price ladder"
The iPad Air is a worse Pro
Whatever Apple's intention, the meaning of "Air" has shifted from "thin and light" or at least "premium" to "the one that's less expensive than the Pro." That's not a bad thing necessarily, but it does make anything outside the "just the basics" approach of the entry-level iPad or the "everything and the kitchen sink" approach of the iPad Pro seem unnecessary.
What's worse, the shift from the M2 iPad Air to the M3 iPad Air has made some parts of the tablet experience worse. The most glaring example is the Magic Keyboard. Since the 5th generation iPad Air, the tablet has used the Magic Keyboard of the iPad Pro. It's backlit, tilt-adjustable, and a little cramped, but it works well. The new version of the Magic Keyboard for the current iPad Air isn't backlit, but has a function row. I'd much rather have backlighting than a function row, all things considered, but that's no longer an option.
The M2 and M3 iPad Air models are still compatible with older Magic Keyboards if you already have one or are able to buy one used.
You'll find a similar structure for many of the products Apple sells, with clear entry-level and premium options, with vague, confusingly defined middle categories that do a little bit of both. Feature-wise, this might fit a "good, better, best" arrangement in terms of display quality, internal chips, or access to accessories. But when you look at Apple's pricing, and how the company charges more for extra storage, cellular connectivity, or even just display size, it's very easy to get walked up to the edge of a more premium Pro tablet in terms of price. It seems purposely built to get you to spend more -- a ladder that takes you to higher and higher prices. What purpose does the Air serve other than nudging people to spend more money?
Getting people to spend more is a special skill
It doesn't always make for a good tablet, though
A woman using a 2024 iPad Air with an Apple Pencil.
Apple is a trillion-dollar company, and it likely wouldn't have gotten there without this kind of shrewd decision-making. The company's product categories have continued to expand to different prices and sizes because it's the most straightforward way to reach a larger audience than Apple previously met. The price ladder that drives you from an entry-level iPad all the way to the iPad Pro just makes it work better.
ipad-air-tag
Apple iPad Air (M3)
Apple's M3 iPad Air features the same design as past generations of tablet, with a faster M3 chip and access to a new and improved Magic Keyboard with a function row.
On paper, there's nothing wrong with this strategy if people are still happy with the tablets they're buying, but it hasn't made for very interesting product updates. And in the case of the iPad Air, it's also diluted a tablet that had a unique reason for existing. The iPad Air is a tool to squeeze a $200 to $300 extra from the average tablet buyer and a tablet at the same time. If you're curious about whether you can actually get by with Apple's cheapest tablet, Pocket-lint has you covered. And if you're still tempted by a Pro, there's at least one display-adjacent reason to upgrade.