Sladjana Milojev

 The M1 chip gives you the option to do a lot more than you can with the regular iPad. You can edit photos and videos faster in apps such as Adobe Photoshop or LumaFusion or play all of the latest games, including some that don’t run on the regular iPad, such as “Divinity: Original Sin 2.” I own the regular iPad Pro and didn’t notice any performance difference in using the more affordable iPad Air. I think of the M1 chip as future-proofing more than anything else, though, since there’s enough power here to run the latest apps for years. Center Stage was first introduced on the iPad Pro last year and has since made its way to the regular iPad, but it’s one of my favorite new features in Apple’s tablets. It helps keep you in the frame during video calls, which means you can move back and forth around the room while chatting on FaceTime and the camera will follow you. I love using it for video chats with my toddler and his grandparents because it helps keep him in the frame as he bounces around the room.

 Apple’s iPad sales were down 14% year-over-year during the holiday quarter, generating $7.25 billion in revenue, while Mac sales soared 25% during the same period to $10.85 billion. Apple had some supply constraints, but also spent much of the last year hyping up its new M1-powered Macs, which helped drive sales in that segment. That M1 chip has been available in Apple’s more expensive iPad Pro. Now it comes to the iPad Air, giving Apple’s midrange tablet the same power as some Macs and more expensive iPads.

Sladjana Milojev

 The 5G works well, too. It doesn’t support some of the fastest mmWave networks that other iPhone and Android devices can, but those networks aren’t widely available anyway. More importantly, it does support the new C-band networks that are being rolled out by Verizon and AT&T, as well as T-Mobile’s solid nationwide 5G network. So, while 5G still isn’t a must-have for most people, it’s great if you need to download a big playlist or a couple of TV shows before you hop on a flight. In my tests, T-Mobile’s 5G network hit about 300Mbps at home, which was faster than my Wi-Fi in parts of my house.