iPad Air М2 (2024) VS iPad Air 5 (2022): More power, more space

Apple unveiled its new mid-range tablet, the 2024 iPad Air, back in May. This marked a significant upgrade from its predecessor, the 2022 iPad Air. But is the jump substantial enough to justify the price hike?

One of the most noticeable changes is the introduction of a larger iPad Air model. This extra screen real estate offers a more immersive experience for everything from watching movies to working on creative projects.

Beyond the bigger size, Apple has also given the iPad Air a performance boost. The M1 chip from the 2022 model has been replaced with the powerful M2 chipset. This means you can expect even faster app launches, smoother multitasking, and better overall performance.

Let's dive deeper into the key differences between these two iPad Air generations and see if the M2 model is worth the upgrade.

11-inch iPad Air M2: Up to $565 off with trade-in at Apple

The powerful 11-inch M2 iPad Air sells at its standard price at Apple, but Education Savings are available. Until September 30, you save $50 on the tablet and receive a $100 Apple Gift Card with your new slate. Trade-ins are also open and save you up to $565.

$565 off (94%) Trade-in

$34

$599

This offer is not available in your area.

Get the 11-inch iPad Air M2 at Amazon for 8% off

The new iPad Air M2 with an 11-inch screen is available at Amazon.com for 8% off. The newly released tablet boasts a powerful M2 processor, giving you incredible performance. The discount applies to the model in Space Gray with 128GB of storage.

$50 off (8%)

This offer is not available in your area.

Get 13-inch iPad Air M2 at Apple at up to $565 with trade-in

The 13-inch iPad Air with an M2 chip is also available at the official Apple store with Education Savings. With Education Savings, you can $50 on the tablet and receive a $100 Apple Gift Card with your new slate. Trade-ins are also open and save you up to $565.

$565 off (71%) Trade-in

$234

$799

This offer is not available in your area.

Get the 13-inch iPad Air M2 (Blue, 128GB) and save $70

For the first time, Apple has also released a 13-inch iPad Air M2 model. This one gives you more screen real estate to play with. The tablet can be yours straight from Amazon for $70 off. Not all colors arrive at the same price.

$70 off (9%)

This offer is not available in your area.

The design and size are two of the main areas where Apple has introduced changes with the new M2 iPad Air. For starters, there's the aforementioned 13-inch model, which is a similar size to the 13-inch iPad Pro.

The regular 11-inch M2 iPad Air remains with the same dimensions as the M1 iPad Air (2022), meaning 247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1mm  (9.75 x 7.03 x 0.24in). The weight hasn't changed too much either—462 grams (1.02 pounds).

The 13" iPad Air dimensions, on the other hand, are 280.6 x 214.9 x 6.1mm (11.05 x 8.46 x 0.24in), which is almost the size of the 2022 13-inch iPad Pro. It weighs less than the Pro model, though, coming in at 617 grams (1.36 pounds) vs 682 grams (1.50 pounds). That being said, it is much heavier than the 2022 generation as it didn't include a second larger variant.

Apple finally moved the front-facing camera on one of the sides, instead of placing it at the top bezel like it has been with the previous generations. This has been a long-awaited change by many of us, and it was a nice peace of mind to hold the newer model and know I won't smudge its selfie camera with my hands while holding it horizontally.

We also have two new colors. Well, kind of. The new colors are just lighter shades of blue and purple. Actually, there's one less shade this year with the pink option missing from this generation of iPad Air. We have the blue versions of the 2024 and 2022 iPad Air here at the office, and I definitely prefer the older model's more saturated look.

If you were hoping that this year would be when Apple finally upgrades the Air's display quality, sadly, you will be disappointed. Essentially, we have the same exact screen that the 2022 iPad Air came with. The only difference with the M2 iPad Air is the larger 13-inch model that, obviously, has more screen real estate. 

The Air's display is a bit disappointing when it comes to contrast and black levels, which is why I had my fingers crossed for either a mini-LED or an OLED one, both of which offer improvements in that area. Alas, the wait continues. This is an upgrade we will probably see when Apple finds another major way to separate its premium iPad Pro from the Air.

Besides the size, performance is another area where the iPad Air (2024) offers more than its predecessor. That's because it comes with the M2 chipset, which has a 15% faster CPU, a 25% more powerful GPU, and a 40% more capable neural engine.

Apple claims that the 2024 iPad Air is about 50% faster than the 2022 model, hinting at a significant performance jump with the new generation. That being said, I did not notice any glaring differences in speed or power. The M1 is still a beast of a chip, especially for a tablet, so the M2's superiority is hardly felt. 

A few instances where the M2 chipset makes its presence a bit more apparent is when you start using any of the AI-powered features such as Visual Look Up, Subject Lift, and Live Text capture, although I am not quite sure why the M1 chip can't support those too.

Another small change has to do with the Apple Pencil. The new iPad Air now supports the Apple Pencil Pro that Apple announced alongside this year's tablets. In fact, that is the only Apple Pencil the 2024 iPad Air works with.

The M2 Air, unlike the M1 models, also supports the Apple Pencil Hover feature, which shows a small pointer on the screen when you bring the Apple Pencil close enough, helping with the accuracy.

On the software side of things, we are looking at the same minimum of 6 years of iPadOS updates and security patches. However, the 11-inch iPad Air (2024) and 13-inch iPad Air come with the latest version of iPadOS 17, which means they will at least reach iPadOS 23. The M1 Air, on the other hand, came out in 2022, so its guaranteed updates only reach iPadOS 21.

The 2024 iPad Air tablets also come with updated hardware for better connectivity. Both support Bluetooth 5.3 vs 5.0 on the older model, meaning connections to Bluetooth devices will be more stable (especially at longer distances), and using the Bluetooth will draw less battery as 5.3 is more power-efficient.

Apple has also upgraded the Wi-Fi module to support Wi-Fe 6E (compared to Wi-Fi 6 on the 2022 iPad Air). This enables the new iPad Air models to connect to 6GHz Wi-Fi networks, which can be noticeably faster compared to the alternatives.

The iPad Air (2022) comes with a single camera at the back, it has 12MP and an aperture of f/1.8. It is nothing impressive, especially when placed to the recent iPhone cameras, but it does the job for quick snapshots. This remains unchanged with the M2 iPad Air (2024), including the larger model.

The 12MP ultrawide front-facing camera of the 2022 iPad Air is arguably the more important one, given that we are talking about a tablet here. Apple has changed this one, as I mentioned above, moving it from the top bezel to one of the side bezels.

Having the selfie camera moved to the horizontal side not only makes the new iPad Air more comfortable to hold, but also feels more intuitive when it comes to group calls. No longer am I awkwardly to the side of the frame, instead, I am am more appropriately positioned in the middle.

Other than the positioning of the selfie camera, there are no other upgrades. That means the main camera is still capable of 4K at 60FPS and 1080p at 240FPS video recording, just like with the iPad Air from 2022. Same goes for the front-facing camera, which can record video at 1080p 60FPS and comes with Face detection.

Haptics are not that important with iPads, so Apple doesn't pay too much attention the vibration motor inside or any software features that are related to haptic feedback. That being said, the speakers inside a tablet are of extreme importance, as most users buy one specifically to enjoy watching movies, TV shows, and videos.

The 2022 iPad Air has pretty good speakers, but unlike the Pro models that have four, it only comes with two. This remains the same with the 11-inch 2024 iPad Air, but the bigger 13-inch model offers noticeably deeper bass and therefore a richer audio experience. I genuinely feel this is a pretty good reason to opt for that new larger variant.

The 11" iPad Air (2024) keeps the same battery size of 7,606 mAh as the iPad Air from 2022, but the new 13-inch iPad Air has a larger battery capacity. If logic serves, the battery is somewhere close to that of the 13-inch iPad Pro, which is 10758 mAh. Given the information on Apple's website, our guess would be 9705 mAh.

As for charging, the M2 iPad Air comes with the same charging speed as its predecessor. Given its larger battery, though, the 13-inch model inevitably chargers more slowly than the M1 Air.

So, in short, the main differences between the 2024 edition of the iPad Air and the previous generation from 2022 is the new 13-inch iPad Air with its larger display and better audio quality. There's also a performance upgrade in the form of Apple's M2 chip, but that doesn't seem to be too apparent in most use cases.

You also get new storage options, with the base storage being double that of the 2022 iPad Air and the maximum going all the way up to 1TB with the 2024 models.

Is all of this worth the upgrade, though? Well, our take is that the M1 chipset is plenty powerful for most, so it boils down to whether or not you want a bigger display with better sound and that Apple Pencil Pro. You can easily grab cloud storage, so the new internal storage options are not that alluring either.

Of course, if you think that the power of the M2 chipset would come in handy for your use case, than you have one more reason for an upgrade. Otherwise, we wouldn't really recommend getting the new M2 Air if you have the previous generation. I would even go as far as saying that it is better looking for a refurbished M1 iPad Air if the Apple Pencil Pro support is not important to you.