Apple’s first 13-inch iPad Air debuts at $799 next week

Apple today announced the first 13-inch iPad Air. The company is also releasing a revamped 11-inch iPad Air next week, meaning the tablet will be available in two sizes for the first time.

The 13-inch iPad Air has 30 percent more screen real estate than its smaller counterpart, so Apple is marketing it as being for multitasking and applications like iPadOS’ Split View. During its Let Loose event today, Apple said it decided to release a 13-inch iPad Air because more than half of iPad Pro users opt for the larger (12.9 inches versus 11 inches) size.

In addition to a larger screen, the 13-inch iPad Air will offer better sound quality than the 11-inch version, Apple says, due to it offering twice the bass. Both tablets have landscape stereo speakers and Spatial Audio support.

Both iPad Airs will come with an M2 chip that Apple claimed will give the devices 15 percent faster CPU performance, 25 percent faster GPU performance, and a 40 percent faster neural engine. With improved memory bandwidth as well, the new iPad Airs will be 50 percent faster than M1-based predecessors, Apple says.

Apple also says the new chip will make the tablets more appropriate for AI-based tasks, like visual look-up, subject lift, and live text capture.

The new Airs will also have a front-facing, ultrawide 12MP camera that supports Apple’s Center Stage feature for keeping users in a central field of view during video calls. Apple moved the camera positioning to one of the tablet’s longer edges to appeal to the way people tend to use tablets for video calls.

Apple’s new thin tablets will come in four colors.

The 13-inch iPad Air will start at $799 with 128GB of storage, and the 11-inch iPad Air will start at $599, with storage going up to 1TB. The tablets will be available starting May 15.

Listing image by Apple