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The iPad Air series used to be Apple's midrage offering for those who want a powerful tablet with (2nd-gen) Apple Pencil support, but are also willing to accept an older design and lower specs than on the iPad Pro, for a more reasonable price. At least that was the case up to the iPad Air 3, because the latest iPad Air 4 introduced both a fresh, modern design and a ton of professional features. Here is everything you may want to know about the redesigned 2020 iPad Air 4.
The price of the new Apple iPad Air 4 has jumped with $100 over its predecessor, as was expected, considering that the rumors for its modernized design ended up being true. The iPad Air 4 starts at $599. The prices for all iPad Air 4 (2020) models are as follows:
$599 for the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad Air 4 (2020)
$749 for the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad Air 4 (2020)
$729 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad Air 4 (2020)
$879 for the 256GB Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad Air 4 (2020)
Apple iPad Air 4 design and display
The rumors were correct! The new iPad Air 4 will sport a modern design and fresh new colors.
As many rumors and leaks had suggested, the new iPad Air 4 (2020) sports an updated design, similar to the iPad Pro. Most notably, this means an all-screen display with symmetrical, slim bezels, giving the iPad Air 4 the modern look the series has been needing for quite a few years.
The display itself is now a 10.9-inch 2360 x 1640 liquid retina one, sporting over 3.8 million pixels. It's also fully laminated, includes anti-reflective coating and supports True Tone, like the iPad Pro.
New color options
Unlike the budget 2020 iPad, which comes in only three colors, the 2020 iPad Air comes in 2 extra colors, which are Sky Blue and Green. All 5 available color variants for the 2020 iPad Air are as follows:
Rose gold
Green
Sky Blue
Space Gray
Silver
Apple iPad Air 4 (2020) specifications
Like the iPad Pro, the iPad Air 4 supports Apple's Magic Keyboard and the 2nd generation Apple Pencil.
A14 Bionic chip, 6-core CPU
New design with an all-screen display
Touch ID sensor integrated in top Power button
New colors – Rose Gold, Green and Sky Blue
10.9-inch 2360 x 1640 liquid retina display with True Tone
Stereo speakers, one on each side
USB Type-C
60% faster LTE
Apple Pencil 2 and Magic Keyboard support
64GB or 256GB of storage
In addition to the updated design, the 2020 Apple iPad Air 4 is quite a beast on the inside. It features the A14 Bionic chip, Apple's fastest at the time of the Air 4's release, making the iPad Air 4's performance 40% higher over the Air 3. The Air 4 is also capable of 30% faster graphics processing. During its introduction, Apple also noted that the iPad Air 4 includes a faster neural engine and strongly improved machine learning capabilities.
Another notable change is one we also expected from rumors – the iPad Air 4 sports a USB Type-C port instead of Lightning. This port allows for data transfers up to 5 gigabits per second (10 times faster than on the previous Air model, which used Lightning), and will support cameras, external drives and external monitors at up to 4K resolution.
The iPad Air 4 comes with a 7-megapixel Facetime front camera capable of 1080p HD video capture and Smart HRD. The back camera of the 2020 iPad Air is the same as the one on the iPad Pro – a 12-megapixel sensor capable of 4K 60 frames-per-second (FPS) recording. It's also said to feature improved video stabilization.
Apple iPad Air 4 speakers
The new 2020 iPad Air 4 has four speaker grills, but in fact packs only two speakers. The good news is, this time each one is on an opposing side of the tablet. Thus, users can get a true stereo effect when watching content in landscape mode. Previously on the Air models both speakers were on the right side of the tablet, and still are on the budget 2020 iPad. In our usage, we found the speakers plenty loud and full, with a good presence of bass.
Apple iPad Air 4 software
iPadOS 14 will employ sidebars and pull-down menus for a better computer-like experience
The iPad Air 4 is running iPadOS 14 at launch, which comes with a number of usability updates. Most notably, the 2nd generation Apple Pencil that the 2020 iPad Air supports got even more useful with Scribble. Scribble is an iPadOS 14 feature that lets users handwrite in any text field with the Apple Pencil, instead of having to switch between it and an on-screen (or physical) keyboard.
The Safari browser on iPad is now able to translate websites to seven different languages. Safari also got enhanced privacy features, including checking for weak user passwords.
The iPad's Home Screen on iPad OS 14 features redesigned widgets in Today View, which take better advantage of the tablet's larger display by showing more information than before. Widgets can be better organized using the new Smart Stack option, which can stack several different widgets in one space and even use on-device intelligence to show you the right widget at the right time of day.
UPDATE: The iPad Air (4th generation) is getting iPadOS 17. The new OS was officially announce during the annual WWDC 2023 with some exciting new features. You can check out the full list of iPadOS 17 features here. The new iPadOS 17 will arrive to the iPad Air 4 this autumn.
Rado, a tech enthusiast with a love for mobile devices, brings his passion for Android and iPadOS to PhoneArena. His tech journey began with MP3 players and has evolved to include tinkering with Android tablets and iPads, even running Linux and Windows 95 on them. Beyond tech, Rado is a published author, music producer, and PC game developer. His professional work on iPads, from producing songs to editing videos, showcases his belief in their capabilities. Rado looks forward to the future of mobile tech, particularly in augmented reality and multi-screen smartphones.
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