MacFormat UK – June 2019

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video (compared to 720p on the 9.7in iPad)
means it’s better for video conferencing.
The real reason to buy the new iPad Air,
though, is the added grunt hidden behind its
colourful laminated display. Apple says the
iPad Air offers a 70% increase in performance
and double the graphics capability compared
to the 9.7in iPad.
In Geekbench 4, the Air’s A12 Bionic
chip achieved a score of 11,575 points in the
multicore benchmark. The 9.7in iPad, with
its iPhone 7-era A10 Fusion chip, gave us
5,786 in that test.
The A12 chip also uses machine learning
to continually improve your experience.
Among tablets, it’s only bested by third-gen
models of iPad Pro, which have the A12X
Bionic chipset. This translates into two
important things for the iPad Air: faster
processing for current apps and multitasking,
and significant steps to future-proofing.
Apple is growing its stable of augmented
reality apps and games on the App Store, and
iOS 13 may enhance multitasking. The Air is
certainly no slouch for such endeavours.

Productivity focus
Apple has a diverse line-up of iPads now but,
interestingly, they all have the same quoted
battery life of up to 10 hours. We actually
found that on and off usage throughout the
day gave us more than 24 hours. No surprise,
though, that as we cranked out more tasks,
played AR games and treated the iPad Air
more like a laptop, we noticed a dip. The good
news here is that this is the first iPad Air to
offer fast charging, and the Lightning to
USB-C cable (from £19) and an 18W USB-C
plug (£29) are worth the cost.
It’s a shame that the iPad Air doesn’t
support the second-gen Apple Pencil, and
that the Smart Keyboard is not backlit. But if
you’re looking for more than just a read-and-
watch tablet, the third-generation iPad Air
is a handy little powerhouse. Performance is
much improved and the device now has more
of a productivity focus. MATT SWIDER

The A12 chip

significantly

increases

performance

and graphics

capability

JUNE 2019 | MACFORMAT | 85

The fully laminated screen makes a positive

difference when drawing with the Apple Pencil.