The last meter Apple update the iPad Air direction back in the 2020 , there was a sense that its very macrocosm made the minuscule iPad Pro unappealing . By duplicate many of the Pro ’s feature at a more reasonable price tag , the2020 iPad Airoffered a compelling portmanteau word of power and affordability . The cosmos has change since then , with the Pro lineupgraded with M1 processorsin 2021 and the Air neglected for the total yr . But based on the later rumors , the Air ’s glory days could take back at the company’sPeek Performance give issue .
According to information seen by9to5Mac , the raw iPad Air ( codenamed J408 , the site ’s sources say ) will feature the same M1 scrap that was previously confined to the iPad Pro and Apple ’s Mac range . Combined with the 5 G capabilities that learned person largely agree will also be added to the Air ’s feature set , and the melody ’s existing USB - C port and ability to work with the second - generation Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard , this will raise the mid - range Apple tablet to the land of Pro - killer once again .
The M1 chipping , as we outlined in ourin - depth explainer , is a devastatingly powerful desktop - category component with two more functioning cores than the A14 Bionic deploy in the current iPad Air and four more GPU cores . In our Geekbench 5 multi - coretesting , the M1 iPad Pro outperformed the Air 2020 by a wide perimeter ( 7,285 to 4,197 ) , an advantage of roughly 74 percentage . There are details to be worked out – namely the how much chock up the melody will get and how many GPU cores it will have – but the potential for performance gains as apps become more demanding over the coming years is enormous .
Which brings us back to the quondam doubtfulness : Why would the mean tablet hunter buy the small iPad Pro when an up - to - date iPad Air exist ? The agiotage tablet will still have some undivided features to set itself asunder from the rest of the range , such as ProMotion , Thunderbolt reenforcement , multi - terabyte storage choice , but the 12.9 - inch simulation with its XDR showing seems like a no - brainer for well - heeled creative professionals .
The launching may be spoilt news for the 11 - in iPad Pro , at least until another version appears later this year , but it sound like in force newsworthiness for the residuum of us . That ’s bear , of course , that the prediction is right . We ’ll feel out the trueness afterward today at Apple ’s Peek carrying into action event . melodic phrase in with usfor the information you need : Here on Macworld.com we ’ll be reporting and examine all the announcements as they happen , set about at 10 am PT .
