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After weeks of rumours and speculation, Apple finally unveiled its latest product in the iPad lineup last week – the iPad Air.
The new device features an M3 chip and Apple’s AI tools, Apple Intelligence, making it even faster and more powerful than its predecessors.
The 11-inch and 13-inch iPads come in four stunning colours – blue, purple, starlight, and space gray – with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB configurations.
Alongside the iPad itself, Apple also released a brand new Magic Keyboard, which attaches to the tablet magnetically.
Ahead of its general release this Friday, Apple kindly sent me the iPad Air and Magic Keyboard to test, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Combined, the two devices offer an impressively similar user experience to a MacBook.
The keyboard provides a comfortable typing experience, while the new 14-key function row allows easy access to everything from screen brightness to volume controls.
What’s more, with the option to clip the keyboard on and off, the iPad Air and Magic Keyboard are actually more versatile than the MacBook Air.
Apple iPad Air & Magic Keyboard
Ahead of its general release this Friday, Apple sent me the iPad Air and Magic Keyboard to test, and I wasn’t disappointed
Our verdict
The iPad Air itself isn’t that different to its predecessor, with the only main improvement being the M3 chip.
However, where the new device really comes into its own is when used in combination with the new Magic Keyboard.
Attaching magnetically, this device instantly transforms the iPad into a MacBook-like device, which is perfect if you don’t like using the touchscreen.
Unfortunately, the devices come with a fairly hefty price-tag, with buyers facing a £1,598 bill if they want the 13-inch 1TB iPad Air alongside the Magic Keyboard.
It works with Apple Pencil Pro, Magic Keyboard and Smart Folio.
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How we test iPads
When testing iPads, we try them across multiple real-world settings, including the office, our homes, and out and about.
We evaluate the devices based on the quality of their hardware and software, testing everything from the camera to the battery life, design and display.
Each iPad goes through several days of hands-on testing, allowing us to provide an in-depth review to help consumers make informed decisions.
The iPad Air isn’t that different to its predecessor, with the only main improvement being the M3 chip. However, where the new device really comes into its own is when used in combination with the new Magic Keyboard
Why trust us
Shivali Best is the Science & Technology Editor at MailOnline and has been testing products and writing reviews for nine years. She completed a Master’s degree in Science Journalism at City University London in 2014 and previously worked at The Mirror as Deputy Science & Technology Editor.
iPad Air review
Display
The iPad Air comes in two sizes, the 11-inch and 13-inch. I tested the latter.
The 13-inch model has a bright display, which is perfect for watching movies, playing games or scribbling notes.
Admittedly, if you’re planning to use the iPad Air with the Magic Keyboard instead of a laptop, you might find the 13-inch display slightly too small when using apps like Microsoft Excel or Final Cut Pro.
The Magic Keyboard is probably my favourite addition to the iPad Air, and totally transforms the user experience
The 13-inch model has a bright display, which is perfect for watching movies, playing games or scribbling notes
Magic Keyboard
The Magic Keyboard is probably my favourite addition to the iPad Air, and totally transforms the user experience.
The keyboard attaches magnetically, while a smart connector connects power and data, so you don’t need to faff around setting up Bluetooth.
The built-in trackpad is a great size, while the new 14-key function row provides easy access to several handy tools, including volume controls and screen brightness.
Once it’s connected to the iPad, you almost forget that they’re two separate devices, as they blend so seamlessly together.
I often use my iPad in the kitchen, and the keyboard made it much easier to search for ingredients, make my shopping list and scroll through recipes.
If you’re umming and ahhing about whether to splash out on the Magic Keyboard, I couldn’t recommend it more!
Magic Keyboard is the perfect companion for the iPad Air. It delivers an amazing typing experience and a trackpad for precision tasks in a sleek, portable design.
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The Image Wand tool in the Notes app instantly transformed rough sketches into impressive cartoons
Apple Intelligence
As with most of Apple’s new devices, the iPad Air is built for Apple Intelligence – Apple’s suite of AI tools.
While these are also available on Apple’s latest iPhones, many of the tools really come into their own with the larger screen on the iPad Air.
Using the new Clean Up tool, I was able to easily remove objects from photos, while the Image Wand tool in the Notes app instantly transformed my rough sketches into impressive cartoons.
As a journalist, I also love the proofreading tool, which uses AI to check for spelling and grammatical errors in text.
In combination with the Magic Keyboard, this makes the iPad Air perfect to use for typing up my notes.
Price
The new iPad Air isn’t cheap – especially if you decide to splash out on the Magic Keyboard.
Prices for the iPad Air alone range from £599 for the 11-inch model with 128GB of storage, to £1,299 for the 13-inch model with 1TB of storage.
The Magic Keyboard costs £269 for the 11-inch model and £299 for the 13-inch model.
So, if you do want to get the pair of devices, you’re looking at a total bill of between £868 and £1,598.
For comparison, the new 13-inch MacBook Air is priced at £999 – £1,399.
The big difference between the two, however, is versatility.
The MacBook Air is a fantastic laptop, but the keyboard is there whether you like it or not.
By contrast, the Magic Keyboard can be removed from the iPad Air within seconds, giving you the option of either a tablet or a laptop-like experience.
Apple Intelligence: The best features
Apple Intelligence is essentially a snazzy brand name for Apple’s new-found focus on AI, triggered by the huge success of the ChatGPT.
Here’s a look at some of the best features of Apple Intelligence, which comes to the UK via the new iOS 18.2 operating system.
ChatGPT-Siri integration
Surely the biggest part of Apple Intelligence is the integration of OpenAI’s hugely popular chatbot ChatGPT with Siri, Apple’s in-built virtual assistant.
With better ‘language-understanding capabilities’ enabled by ChatGPT, Siri will help you across multiple apps and ‘accelerate everyday tasks’, Apple said.
You’ll be able to press and hold the side button to activate Siri as normal, but with ChatGPT behind it Siri will be able to ‘answer thousands of questions about how to do something’ that it couldn’t before.
iOS 18 users will be asked before any questions are sent to ChatGPT, along with any documents or photos, and Siri then presents the answer
For example, you could say, ‘Play that podcast that Jamie recommended’ and Siri will locate and play the episode, without the user having to remember whether it was mentioned in a text or an email.
Or you could ask, ‘When is mum’s flight landing?’ and Siri will find the flight details and cross-reference them with real-time flight tracking to give an arrival time.
AI-generated emoji
If you can never quite find the emoji you’re looking for during chat conversations, Apple has the answer.
One of the more fun parts of Apple Intelligence is AI-generated emoji, which Apple has called ‘Genmoji’ (a mix of ‘generated’ and ’emoji’).
In the Messages app, you can type a short description of the emoji you want – such as ‘smiley relaxing wearing cucumbers’ or ‘squirrel DJ’.
AI-generated emoji: In the Messages app, users can type a short description (e.g. ‘smiley relaxing wearing cucumbers’) to get a unique emoji to send to someone
Similar to AI tools that just need a few words to create weird artworks, from that single prompt Genmoji returns an AI-generated approximation of what you had in mind.
If you don’t like what the AI has made for you, there are a few back-up options for you to choose from.
Clean Up
Apple’s Clean Up tool for the Photos app makes ultra-clean edits to photos – without any telltale signs that the snap has been tampered with in any way.
It lets users remove ‘distracting objects’ from the background of a photo – for example a photobomber in the background of a family snap.
Clean Up is very similar to Google’s photo-editing technology ‘Magic Eraser’ for its Pixel phones, heavily promoted in Google adverts in recent years.
The new Clean Up tool in Apple’s Photos app can identify and remove ‘distracting objects’ in the background of a photo
But the technology has been described by some as ‘Orwellian’ as it can distort reality and ‘create a false memory’.
Referring to Clean Up, one commenter said it ‘can be misused’ because it ‘makes deleting evidence easy’.
Image Playground
AI also powers a new image-generating tool called ‘Image Playground’, which is available on multiple apps, including Messages and Pages.
With Image Playground, users can create images in a few seconds, choosing from three styles – ‘animation’, ‘illustration’ and ‘sketch’.
Image Playground allows users to create fun images in seconds, choosing from three styles – Animation, Illustration and Sketch
A promo image appears to show a photo of a person being turned into a video game-style 3D avatar wearing a spacesuit in the ‘animation’ setting.
Rather like Genmoji, this ‘exciting’ image creation tool will help iPhone owners ‘communicate and express themselves in new ways’, the company says.
Movie Memories
The vast media storage capabilities of an iPhone means its always tempting to look back through your photos and video for a burst of nostalgia.
Recognizing this, Apple has come up with ‘Movie Memories’, an AI tool that creates the perfect home movie to watch on your device.
By typing a short description – for example ‘last summer in our garden’ – the AI can search your media library and and arrange photos and clips into a movie ‘with its own narrative arc’.
Movie Memories picks out the best photos and videos based on a user’s description and arranges it all into a movie with its own narrative arc
And as no movie is quite as good without a bit of music, you’ll get song suggestions from Apple Music to match the memory.
Again, Apple stresses the privacy aspect of using an AI to search through your private life.
‘As with all Apple Intelligence features, user photos and videos are kept private on device and are not shared with Apple or anyone else,’ it says.
AI writing tools
Using AI to make your writing extra concise is not a new thing – for example Microsoft’s Copilot AI is creating first drafts and suggesting edits in Word.
But now Apple is jumping on the bandwagon with its own AI-powered writing tools.
The tech will rewrite, proofread and summarize text on multiple apps, including Mail, Notes and Pages, as well as some third-party apps.
‘Whether tidying up class notes, ensuring a blog post reads just right, or making sure an email is perfectly crafted, Writing Tools help users feel more confident in their writing,’ the firm says.
