IPad Air (1st generation)
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The iPad Air (retrospectively referred to unofficially as the iPad Air 1 or original iPad Air) is a tablet designed, developed, and marketed by
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
It was announced on October 22, 2013, and was released on November 1, 2013. Part of the
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...
line of tablet computers, the iPad Air features a thinner design than its predecessors with similarities to the contemporaneous
iPad Mini 2 The iPad Mini 2 (formerly marketed as the iPad mini with Retina display, officially iPad mini 2 with Retina display) is a tablet computer produced and marketed by Apple Inc. It has a nearly identical design to its predecessor the first-genera ...
. The iPad Air's successor, the
iPad Air 2 The iPad Air 2 is the second-generation iPad Air tablet computer designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced on October 16, 2014, alongside the iPad Mini 3, both of which were released on October 22, 2014. The iPad Air 2 ...
, was announced on October 16, 2014, and released on October 22, 2014, however, the 64GB and 128GB variants were discontinued, and later the 16GB and 32GB on March 21, 2016 after the announcement of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, but the
iPad Mini 2 The iPad Mini 2 (formerly marketed as the iPad mini with Retina display, officially iPad mini 2 with Retina display) is a tablet computer produced and marketed by Apple Inc. It has a nearly identical design to its predecessor the first-genera ...
continued in production until March 21, 2017 with the announcement of the 2017 iPad.


Features


Software

The iPad Air launched with version 7 of the
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
 operating system.
iOS 7 iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 1 ...
introduced a major aesthetic redesign of the operating system, departing from skeuomorphic elements such as green felt in Game Center, wood in Newsstand, and leather in Calendar, in favor of flat, colorful design.
Jonathan Ive Sir Jonathan Paul Ive (born 27 February 1967) is a British industrial and product designer, as well as businessman. Ive was the chief design officer (CDO) of Apple Inc. from 1997 until 2019 (known as senior vice principal of industrial design ...
, the designer of iOS 7's new elements, described the update as "bringing order to complexity", highlighting features such as refined typography, new icons, translucency, layering, physics, and gyroscope-driven parallaxing as some of the major changes. It can act as a hotspot with some carriers, sharing its Internet connection over Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
, or
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
, and also access the
Apple App Store The App Store is an app store platform, developed and maintained by Apple Inc., for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download approved apps developed within Apple's iOS Software Devel ...
, a digital application
distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
platform for iOS. The iPad Air comes with several applications, including the Safari web browser, Mail, Photos, Video, Music, iTunes Store, App Store, Maps, Notes, Calendar,
Game Center Game Center is a service by Apple that allows users to play and challenge friends when playing online multiplayer social gaming network games. Games can now share multiplayer functionality between the Mac and iOS versions of the app. Game C ...
, Photo Booth, and Contacts. The iPad Air can optionally sync content and other data with a Mac or Windows computer using iTunes. Although the tablet is not designed to make phone calls over a cellular network, users can use a headset or the built-in speakers and microphone to place phone calls over Wi-Fi or cellular using a
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
application, such as
Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
. The device has a
dictation Dictation can refer to: *Dictation (exercise), when one person speaks while another person transcribes *'' Dictation: A Quartet'', a collection of short stories by Cynthia Ozick, published in 2008 * Digital dictation, the use of digital electronic ...
application. This enables users to speak and the iPad types what they say on the screen. An Internet connection is required, as the speech is processed by Apple servers. Apple also began giving away its iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband) and iWork (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) apps with the device.
iOS 8 iOS 8 is the eighth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 7. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 2, 2014, and was released on September 17, ...
was released in 2014, alongside
iPad Mini 3 The iPad Mini 3 (stylized and marketed as iPad mini 3) is the third-generation iPad Mini tablet computer designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced alongside the iPad Air 2 on October 16, 2014 and released on October 22. ...
and
iPhone 6 The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are smartphones that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the eighth generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S, and were announced on September 9, 2014, and rele ...
.
IOS 8 iOS 8 is the eighth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 7. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 2, 2014, and was released on September 17, ...
introduced a variety of new features, including Continuity and
Health (Apple) Health is a health informatics mobile app, announced by Apple Inc. on June 2, 2014 at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The app is available on iPhone and iPod Touch devices running iOS 8 or later. The application holds health data ...
iOS 9 iOS 9 is the ninth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 8. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8, 2015, and was released on September 16, ...
was released in 2015. A major focus for the iPad was the introduction of three new multitasking features The Air supported two of these features, called Slide Over and Picture in Picture. Slide Over allows a user to "slide" a second app in from the side of the screen in a smaller window, and have it display information alongside the initial app. Picture in Picture allows a user to watch a video in a small, resizable, moveable window while remaining in another app. The third feature, dubbed Split View (which allows the user to run two apps simultaneously in a 50/50 view), was not supported by the device.
iOS 10 iOS 10 is the tenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 9. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 13, 2016, and was released on September ...
was released in 2016.
IOS 10 iOS 10 is the tenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 9. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 13, 2016, and was released on September ...
brought new features, such as support for the
AirPods AirPods are wireless Bluetooth earbuds designed by Apple Inc. They were first announced on September 7, 2016, alongside the iPhone 7. Within two years, they became Apple's most popular accessory. The most recent model, AirPods (3rd generation ...
. iOS 11 was released in 2017. IOS 11 redesigned the control center, along with other new features. In June 2019, Apple announced that it would drop support for the iPad Air with the release of
iPadOS 13 iPadOS 13 is the first major release of the iPadOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for their iPad line of tablet computers. The successor to iOS 12 on those devices, it was announced at the company's 2019 Worldwide Developers ...
in September 2019. The iPad Air is supported to
iOS 12 iOS 12 is the twelfth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. Aesthetically similar to its predecessor, iOS 11, it focuses more on performance than on new features, quality improvements and security updates. Anno ...
, with the latest 12.5.6 update released on August 31, 2022.


Design

The iPad Air marked the first major design change for the iPad since the
iPad 2 The iPad 2 is a tablet designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. Compared to the first iPad, as the second model in the iPad line, it gained a faster dual core A5 processor, a lighter build structure, and was the first iPad to feature V ...
; it has a thinner design that is 7.5 millimeters thick and has a smaller screen bezel similar to the
iPad Mini The iPad Mini (branded and marketed as iPad mini) is a line of mini tablet computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a sub-series of the iPad line of tablets, with screen sizes of 7.9 inches and 8.3 inches. The first- ...
. Apple reduced the overall volume for the iPad Air by using thinner components resulting in a 22% reduction in weight over the iPad 2. It retains the same 9.7-inch screen as the previous iPad model. The new front-facing camera is capable of video in 720p HD, includes face detection, and
backside illumination Comparison of simplified back-illuminated and front-illuminated pixel cross-sections A back-illuminated sensor, also known as backside illumination (BI) sensor, is a type of digital image sensor that uses a novel arrangement of the imaging elemen ...
. The rear camera received an upgrade as well; now being called the
iSight iSight is a brand name used by Apple Inc. to refer to cameras on various devices. The name was originally used for the external iSight webcam, which retailed for US$149, connected to a computer via a FireWire cable, and came with a set of mou ...
camera, in addition to the same functions as the front camera it also contains a 5MP CMOS, hybrid IR filter and a fixed ƒ/2.4 aperture. The device was available in space gray and silver colors. As with previous generations, Apple continued to use recyclable materials. The enclosure of the iPad Air was milled from a solid block of aluminum making it 100% recyclable. The iPad Air is also free of the harmful materials BFRs and PVC.


Hardware

The iPad Air inherits most of the same hardware components from the iPhone 5S, such as its
Apple A7 The Apple A7 is a 64-bit system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. It first appeared in the iPhone 5S, which was announced on September 10, 2013, and the iPad Air and iPad Mini 2, which were both announced on October 22, 2013. Apple states ...
system-on-chip and
Apple M7 The Apple M-series coprocessors are motion coprocessors used by Apple Inc. in their mobile devices. First released in 2013, their function is to collect sensor data from integrated accelerometers, gyroscopes and compasses and offload the collect ...
motion processor. The A7 present in the iPad Air is slightly different however, in that it does not use a PoP design which stacks the RAM on top of the SoC. It also features a metal heat spreader to compensate for the slightly faster clock speed and to provide better thermal management. The Air also includes a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera (iSight), a FaceTime HD front-facing camera, support for
802.11n IEEE 802.11n-2009 or 802.11n is a wireless-networking standard that uses multiple antennas to increase data rates. The Wi-Fi Alliance has also retroactively labelled the technology for the standard as Wi-Fi 4. It standardized support for multipl ...
, and an estimated 10 hours of battery life. It boots faster than any previous iPad model. As with all previous generations of iPhone and iPad hardware, there are four buttons and one switch on the iPad Air. With the device in its portrait orientation, these are: a "home" button on the face of the device under the display that returns the user to the home screen, a ''wake/sleep'' button on the top edge of the device, and two buttons on the upper right side of the device performing ''volume up/down'' functions, under which is a switch whose function varies according to device settings, functioning either to switch the device into or out of silent mode or to lock/unlock the orientation of the screen. It uses the same home button that was built in previous iPad models and therefore does not include a
fingerprint scanner Fingerprint scanners are security systems of biometrics. They are used in police stations, security industries, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Function Everyone has patterns of friction ridges on their fingers, and it is this pattern ...
. In addition, the WiFi only version weighs 469 grams while the cellular model weighs 478 grams – over 25% lighter than their respective predecessors. The display responds to other sensors: an ambient light sensor to adjust screen brightness and a 3-axis
accelerometer An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is acc ...
to sense orientation and switch between portrait and landscape modes. Unlike the iPhone and iPod Touch's built-in applications, which work in three orientations (portrait, landscape-left and landscape-right), the iPad's built-in applications support
screen rotation Page orientation is the way in which a rectangular page is oriented for normal viewing. The two most common types of orientation are ''portrait'' and ''landscape''. The term "portrait orientation" comes from visual art terminology and describes ...
in all four orientations, including upside-down. Consequently, the device has no intrinsic "native" orientation; only the relative position of the home button changes. The iPad Air was available with 16, 32, 64 or 128 GB of internal flash memory, with no expansion option. Apple also sells a "camera connection kit" with an
SD card Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
reader, but it can only be used to transfer photos and videos. As of the announcement of the iPad Pro 9.7-Inch on March 21, 2016, the iPad Air was discontinued. All models can connect to a
wireless LAN A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office buildi ...
and offer dual band Wi-Fi support. The tablet is also manufactured either with or without the capability to communicate over a cellular network. The iPad Air (and the iPad Mini 2) cellular model comes in two variants, both of which support nano-SIMs, quad-band GSM, penta-band UMTS, and dual-band CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and B. Additionally, one variant also supports LTE bands 1–5, 7, 8, 13, 17–20, 25 and 26 while the other variant supports LTE bands 1–3, 5, 7, 8, 18-20 and
TD-LTE In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/ HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by us ...
bands 38, 39 and 40. Apple's ability to handle many different bands in one device allowed it to offer, for the first time, a single iPad variant which supports all the cellular bands and technologies deployed by all the major North American wireless providers at the time of the device's introduction. The audio playback of the iPad Air is in stereo with two speakers located on either side of the
Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...
connector.


Reception


Critical reception

The iPad Air received mainly positive reviews. Writing for AnandTech,
Anand Lal Shimpi Anand Lal Shimpi (born June 26, 1982) is a former tech journalist and American businessman who retired at the age of 32 from the publishing industry to join the hardware division at Apple Inc. He is primarily known as the founder of the techn ...
writes that the iPad Air "feels like a true successor to the iPad 4," praising it for its reduced weight and size. Shimpi further states that the Air "hits a balance of features, design and ergonomics that I don't think we've ever seen in the iPad." UK Editor-in-Chief of
TechRadar ''TechRadar'' is an online publication owned by Future and focused on technology. It has editorial teams in the US, UK and Australia and provides news and reviews of tech products and gadgets. It was launched in 2007 and expanded to the US in ...
, Patrick Goss, gave the iPad Air a positive review, giving praise to the A7 chip and camera upgrades, as well as the crisp and colorful display. He concludes by stating: "It's hard to put into words how much Apple has improved the iPad, offering a stunning level of detail and power with a build quality that's unrivalled." Christina Bonnington of
Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
awarded the Air a rating of 8 out of 10, calling the performance "outstanding" and noting that high-definition video streams and gaming animations are "smooth and stutter free." She also praised the loading speeds of Safari, the web browser. Bonnington criticized the speakers for being slightly muddled. Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak criticized the focus on decreasing size and weight rather than increasing storage space and stated that he did not want an iPad Air as it did not fit his personal needs. Dave Smith of the '' International Business Times'' wrote that while the device was nice, it did not bring anything new to the iPad. Smith strongly criticized the lack of a fingerprint reader, and noted that the updates, such as the increased speed and the decreased size and weight, were only slight improvements.


Commercial reception

The launch date for the iPad Air did not see as large of a turnout as usual for Apple products; however, this was expected by analysts due to the delayed release of the iPad Mini 2. The iPad Air sold out in Hong Kong just 2 hours after becoming available online.Jeremy Blum (01 November, 2013)
"iPad Air sells out in two hours on Hong Kong Online Apple Store"
South China Morning Post. Retrieved November 3, 3013


Other models


Support


Models


Timeline


Explanatory notes


References


External links

* {{Apple Products introduced in 2013 Products and services discontinued in 2016
Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...
iPad (5) Tablet computers Tablet computers introduced in 2013 Touchscreen portable media players