Apple unveils new M2 iPad Airs — including larger 13-inch model for the first time

Apple just launched its first new iPad Air in over a year, bringing the powerful M2 chip found in the MacBook Air range to the iPad for the first time.

Revealed during the dedicated "Let Loose event", both models include a moved front-facing camera on the landscape edge and improved sound quality.

The iPad Air 6 also comes in the larger 13-inch size, in addition to the normal 11-inch model. This brings it more in line with the sizes found in the Pro lineup and is the first time the Air has had more than one screen size.

Apple has also borrowed a leaf from the iPad 10th gen by moving the front-facing camera to the landscape side of the tablet — which should make it much better for FaceTime calls when you're using the device on its side.

The new Air includes the M2 chip with up to three times faster performance over previous models. It also comes in four finishes including new blue, new purple, starlight and space grey.

The M2 chip

The M2 is a powerful chip and bringing it to the Air will add power efficiency improvements in addition to a significant performance boost. Apple gave the iPad Pro range the M2 in October 2022.

M2 is a "system on a chip" complete with neural engine for machine learning tasks, CPU, GPU and a unified memory architecture. 

Its addition makes the iPad Air a powerful AI device, capable of running applications like Pixelmator Pro or Luminar Neo with on-board AI image processing, allowing for image editing without relying on an internet connection or cloud computing.

Two iPad Air models

Adding the new 13-inch version of the iPad Air brings the larger screen size to the range for the first time, enabling a wider range of applications.

This is the first time Apple has offered the iPad Air in anything but an 11-inch screen size since the first Air launched. 

Both models now come with a minimum of 128GB storage and go up to 1TB. Prices start at $599 for the 11-inch and $799 for the 13-inch. Orders are available today with the Air available from next week.

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