Review: iPad Air M2 is the only do-it-all iPad you really need

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Reviewed: Apple iPad Air M2 (13-inch)

Price: from €729 (11-inch) or €979 (13-inch)

Pros: near-identical functionality to iPad Pro M4 for many people

Cons: no Face ID, no plug provided, more expensive than MacBook Air when bought with keyboard

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The reason that this new 13-inch model may very well replace the iPad Pro for a lot of people is that it’s very fast, can do almost everything an iPad Pro M4 can do (even for those working in audiovisual industries) and looks almost identical to its more expensive sibling.

The biggest functional differences I have found in the weeks I’ve been testing include TouchID instead of FaceID (which is only on the Pro models), which means it may sometimes take about a second longer to wake up. It’s also not quite as light or thin. And its LCD display isn’t quite as bright or fluid as the Pro model’s fancy new Oled display.

This last difference is only really noticeable to me as a daily iPad Pro user, though.

The difference in brightness levels is obvious when you sit the Air M2 and Pro M4 models side by side outside on a bright day, but not really when you’re inside in an office or at home. So although it’s a difference, it has barely been an issue for me.

Of slightly more impact is the difference between Apple’s 120hz ‘Pro Motion’ display on all of its Pro models and the regular 60hz screen on all of the Air models, including the new M2 version. As a regular iPad Pro user, I do notice this, initially at least. Scrolling is just that little bit more juddery. On the other hand, I’d be surprised if it’s apparent to anyone other than a person who is coming from an iPad Pro before, like me. It doesn’t really hinder usage of the tablet at all; ‘Pro Motion’ is simply a nice thing to have.

The power difference in the two models are, in my view after a few weeks with both device, similarly irrelevant for most people. The iPad Pro’s M4 chip — and the doubling of Ram to 16GB when you pay for a 1TB or 2TB storage model — may be significant for those who work in rendering multiple 4K video streams simultaneously, or who need similarly advanced graphics-rendering facilities for parts of their work. But for me and, I’m guessing, almost everyone else reading this, it’s unnecessary. As someone who uses iPads as my primary device for work (including all enterprise applications) as well as photo and video editing, I didn’t find any restriction or slower workflows when using the new Air M2 compared to the Pro M4. If that’s true for me, I’ll bet it’s true for most of you, too.

To be clear, having the new M4 chip under the hood of an iPad Pro before any other Apple computer is an amazing thing. But because of the software limitations on iPads in general, it’s not really an advantage over Apple’s (also excellent, also really powerful) M2 chip in the new Air model. (For those wondering whether there’s any advantage in the Pro M4 over the last-generation Pro M2, there are actually a few, such as the newly-placed webcam; see my in-depth review online of the iPad Pro M4 for more on this.)

Finally, there’s the difference in storage capacities. The Air M2 is limited to 1TB, while the Pro M4 can go to 2TB.

I can see how this might be a decisive factor for a small number of people, but it isn’t for me, even with all of my thousands of photos and videos.

As for the lack of a Lidar camera beside the main rear camera on the Air M2, compared to the Pro M4, this isn’t an issue for the vast majority of people. At least not yet, anyway. Apple is committed to augmented reality, which is what this extra sensor is largely there for. And maybe for those who plan on getting a Vision Pro when it’s (likely) available here later this year, this might be something to consider. But most people simply don’t use it for anything. So it’s no real loss not to have it on the iPad Air M2.

Battery life is about the same on the Air M2 as it is on the Pro M4, at around 10 hours of normal use (with the screen on less than maximum brightness).

So far, then, the iPad Air M2 seems like a decent rival to the iPad Pro M4. It becomes even more of one when you look at the comparative pricing.

The entry-level cost of a 13-inch iPad Air M2 is €979, compared to €1,579 for a 13-inch iPad Pro M4. True, it only has half the storage (128GB vs 256GB), but even when matched up at 256GB, there’s still a €470 price gap. When you get up to the 1TB storage level, as quite a few people might, it’s an even wider gap — €1,609 (Air M2) vs €2,309 (Pro M4). This is because the Pro M4, in its 1TB and 2TB configurations, includes double the Ram (16GB) and an extra core of power. But as I mentioned above, it’s not necessary for most users and you’re left with a €700 price gap. So the choice, for me, starts to look a bit one-sided.

(The 11-inch models are cheaper both for the Air M2 and Pro M4, but it’s the 13-inch models that I’ve been testing.)

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UPGRADES COMPARED TO THE AIR M1 MODEL

I’ve focused so far on the reasons that getting an Air M2 makes more sense than getting a Pro M4 for a lot of people. But what about the actual upgrades to this Air M2 over the last Air M1 model?

There are a few. The big one is the size: a new 13-inch model to add to the 11-inch variant, instead of just 11 inches. This is a big deal for anyone who wants their iPad to be capable of being a laptop replacement, as I use it for.

The next biggest feature, for me, is the storage capacity, which now goes up to 1TB rather than being capped at 256GB on the older models. This, too, is very useful.

Obviously, this has the M2 chip powering its engine rather than the previous M1 model. Apple says that it’s 50pc faster, which was borne out by speed tests I conducted. However, as above when comparing the M2 Air with the M4 Pro, I couldn’t really tell the difference in my day-to-day tasks; this will only really kick in for someone who is leaning on the iPad for heavier-duty coding, graphics or media creation tasks.

One very welcome upgrade is the relocation of the 12-megapixel webcam from the narrow end of the tablet to the wide end (like a laptop). This is a godsend for anyone regularly doing Zoom, FaceTime or video calls on their iPad, as I do.

The webcam still has the useful ‘Centre Stage’ feature, to keep you in the middle of the picture by cropping from an ultrawide angle.

Also, for those who are into it, the new iPad Air M2 can now also use the Apple Pencil Pro as well as the previous Apple Pencil USB-C.

The new Pencil Pro costs a bit more (€149) but has three new features — a ‘barrel roll’ to mimic larger artistic brushes, a squeezing control to bring up separate functionality options on an onscreen carousel and inclusion in the Apple ‘Find My’ ecosystem. I’m not a big Pencil user myself, but found the squeezy-carousel feature to be the biggest timesaver. Ultimately, the ‘Find My’ incorporation might prove to be the one I’m most thankful for, though.

If you’re getting the 13-inch model, the bass quality from the speakers is slightly better because of the extra size of the device. But otherwise, you’re looking at a similar two-speaker setup.

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DOWNSIDES

Like the iPad Pro M4, there’s no plug included with the iPad Air M2. This is really annoying, especially as you get one with the device in the US.

It’s also a shame that longer battery life doesn’t seem to be a priority for iPads. As I pointed out in my review of the iPad Pro M4, and in my subsequent interview with Apple’s VP of engineering, John Ternus, Apple doesn’t see longer battery life for the iPad as one of its priorities. By comparison, it extended the battery life of its MacBooks to around twice that of iPads when it introduced its M-series chips under their hoods.

Lastly, there’s the pricing. As I’ve pointed out, the iPad Air M2 is a fair bit less expensive than the iPad Pro M4. But that doesn’t mean it’s objectively cheap, or even reasonably-priced compared to laptops like Apple’s MacBook Air.

For example, a 13-inch MacBook Air M2 — which is a superb laptop — with 256GB of storage costs €1,249. And that includes a power adaptor.

An iPad Air M2 with the same amount of storage — and no power adaptor — costs €1,109, a modest €140 less.

Throw in a Magic Keyboard (€399), which I would regard as necessary to use an iPad as a work tool, and the price of the 256GB iPad Air rises to €1,508, almost €260 more than the cost of a MacBook Air.

To me, this is the real reason that more people don’t use iPads as laptop-replacements. Excellent laptops like the MacBook Air are simply cheaper.