We may earn compensation from reviewed products. Learn about our editorial policies.
Need-to-knows
- iPad 10th generation feels hard to justify buying at the moment
- iPad Air 5 and 6 have more powerful chips and better displays
- If you want an iPad now and are stuck between these three options, buy the iPad Air 5 or 6 depending on your budget. But, it might be worth waiting for new iPads to be released soon if you can.
Like many other Apple commentators, I decided long ago not to use the interminable words, ‘well, if Steve was around…’.
The only problem is that Apple is increasingly giving me reasons to lean on that rhetoric.
When Apple launched the 10th-generation ‘standard’ iPad (which no one, including Apple, knows how to define within the product lineup), they made it ludicrously similar to the iPad Air 5th generation.
This feels like one of the silliest Apple product comparison guides I’ve written, so forgive me if much of what you’re about to read feels obvious. I’ll also be delving into the iPad 10 vs the iPad Air 6 debate, just to keep things interesting.
Shop iPad 10th Generation below!
Shop iPad Air 6 (M2) below!
How I compared these iPads
I’ve been using these iPads as part of my daily routine for years now. Each one serves different purposes like note-taking or content consumption. As such, I have a well-developed understanding of what each iPad can do and who should buy each one.
But for the purposes of this article, I also did some direct comparisons to test performance, like editing videos, watching movies and drawing with the Apple Pencil.
Pricing and colours
The 10th generation iPad 2022 comes in four colours. They have regular colour names (i.e. ‘blue’ rather than ‘Epic Ocean View Blue Extreme Ultra’) and I think they’re rather lovely. I’ve opted for the yellow one, in case you’re interested.
The 5th gen iPad Air comes in five colours and they’re all a bit muted and boring. They have silly names, too.
But that M2 chip will cost you. The starting price for the iPad Air 6 is £599/ £749 for the 11-inch and £799/ £949 for the 13-inch. Luckily its predecessor and the iPad 10 is MUCH cheaper.
In the UK, the 10th generation iPad has a new starting price of £349 for the WiFi version and £499 for the cellular version. Or from Amazon starting from £329.00 and £449.96.
The iPad Air 5’s starting prices were £669 and £849, respectively, but now you can only purchase a refurbished WIFI+ Cellular version from the Apple store starting at £499. Or it can be bought at Amazon starting from £319.99 and £413.20 (WIFI+ Cellular). That’s a huge discount.
So, for the same price, or less, you can get an iPad Air 5 over the 10th generation iPad (WIFI+ Cellular). That’s a little mad, right?
Or you could pay hundreds more for the M2 iPad Air… I know which I’d choose.
This all begs the question: how are these iPads positioned?
Positioning
I think the best way to suss out the market positioning for an Apple product is to see what’s included above the fold on said product’s landing page.
For the 10th generation iPad, we’re immediately hit with the colour options and the coupling of the iPad and its Magic Keyboard Folio. This is accompanied by the words, “Loveable. Drawable. Magical”, although, curiously, the Apple Pencil is absent from the image. Interesting.
Moving onto the iPad Air 5, we’re actually shown very little of the device, and there’s certainly no place above the fold for accessories. There’s just a side angle of the iPad Air sitting in front of the word ‘air’ accompanied by the words, “Light. Bright. Full of might.”.
Scroll further and the pages for these two iPads continue a vastly different journey. The 10th generation iPad is all about “taking it with you”, jotting down notes, and doing cool creative stuff.
The 5th iPad Air webpage hits you with speed, power, and immense capabilities, all thanks to the inclusion of the M1 chip. “Extraordinary” graphics performance, and neural engine-powered abilities to do “amazing things” are accompanied by imagery of the iPad flashing past at lightspeed.
Taken at face value, the iPad Air provides you with an absolute beast of a tablet for what was just £170 extra. But now cost the same or less!
Believe everything you read on Apple’s website, and that thing can, seemingly, do anything, compared to the tuned-for-homework 10th generation iPad.
The problem is that the M1 chip in that iPad Air means absolutely nothing to virtually everyone who will buy that device. Both it and the 10th generation iPad are just as capable as each other within the current restrictions of iPadOS and the apps available. They’ll feel identical.
The differences amount to the colour options, the fact the 10th generation iPad is only compatible with the shit version of the Apple Pencil, and some other stuff I’ll dig into quickly now.
My M2 iPad Air review reveals that it has a more powerful chip. But the highlight is that the M2 is meant to enable up to 50% faster processing power and a 25% increase in graphics performance over the M1 chip. That’s smoother animations, snappier multitasking and the ability to handle much more demanding tasks, ideal for gamers. However, the average user won’t notice a major difference.
Display and biometrics
A quick note on biometrics. All three of these iPads have Touch ID integrated into the power button on the top of the device. It’s a slightly inconvenient placement, but you get used to it.
The display is usually one of the key areas of differentiation for Apple products. The quality, brightness and speed of a display typically reveal how much better your iPad is than the person who opted to spend less.
Bad news, I’m afraid. There’s not much in it when it comes to the iPad 10 and Air 5 display and biometric differences.
Both of these devices have 10.9-inch Liquid Retina LED displays. They have the exact same resolution (2360 x 1640), pixel density (264 ppi), and brightness (500 nits). They both possess the brilliant True Tone technology and have fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coatings (which, as we all know, do nothing to stop the build-up of fingerprints).
The iPad Air 5 has three display upgrades over the 10th-generation iPad:
- full lamination (this all but removes any noticeable gap between the glass and display, resulting in a less recessed screen);
- anti-reflective coating (useful if you work in bright rooms or outdoors a lot); and
- P3 colour (more vibrancy, more accurate colour reproduction – that kinda thing).
However, both displays are 60Hz panels, which means there’s no silky-smooth ProMotion to enjoy while scrolling web pages and flicking between your Home Screens.
Moving on to the iPad M2 Air – this 6th generation iPad does offer some very interesting options. To start with the obvious, the Air has two display options, 11 and 13 inches. The choice between two sizes is a first for this lineup.
As for the display specifics, like the above, it has an LED unit with no noticeable gap between the display and glass. Like the 10 and Air 5 iPads, it is only 60Hz and there’s no ProMotion. So not much difference there, BUT, it does offer 600 nits in brightness.
So, the display shouldn’t sway you towards the M2 iPad Air over the 2022 model, or iPad 10. But the chip might…
Winner: iPad Air 6, although you’re unlikely to spot the differences.
Chips
The 10th generation iPad is powered by the A14 Bionic. This has six CPU cores and four GPU cores. It’s very fast.
The iPad Air is powered by the M1 chip, which boasts an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU. It’s also very fast.
In normal everyday life, they will feel identical, no matter what you’re doing.
However, if you are a creative professional, you may see the difference in the M2 iPad Air (2024). It has an 8-core CPU, 9-core GPU, and 16-core Neural engine, although the 1- core GPU leap truly isn’t that dramatic, and everday users won’t notice the performance shift so much.
In fact, Apple released the 6th iPad Air stating that it’s M2 chip had a 10-core GPU and quietly changed it a little while later, making us further realize that the difference between the M1 and M2 isn’t as vast as we first thought, unlike the newer M4 chip in the Pro.
Listen, the M1 is very capable, and at a much cheaper price…
Winner: a tie.
Power and battery
They’re all identical. They also charge via USB-C. As they should.
Winner: a tie.
Accessories
The 10th gen and Air 5 iPads are compatible with Apple’s pre-2024 Magic Keyboard and some Apple Pencil accessories. However, only the iPad Air 2024 model is compatible with the latest Apple Pencil Pro.
The M2 also has some accessory hiccups. The relocation of the 13-inch iPad Air’s FaceTime camera has rendered the second-generation Apple Pencil completely incompatible, and the iPad Air isn’t thin enough to take advantage of the new Magic Keyboard.
Sad, right?
A couple more things to note.
Firstly, the keyboards are not actually magic, so if you’re expecting some Harry Potter wizardry to emerge whenever you flip open your keyboard-encased iPad, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Secondly, the Magic Keyboard Folio that’s compatible with the 10th generation iPad is a far more tempting proposition, thanks to the cool Microsoft Surface-like kickstand and the inclusion of a function row on the keyboard. Apple decided, bizarrely, to leave the existing Magic Keyboard (with which the iPad Air 5 is compatible) untouched during this round of updates. It, therefore, remains function row-less; a cruel decision, in my book.
According to Apple’s website, the iPad Air isn’t compatible with the Magic Keyboard Folio, either. Bummer.
But the big one – no, the huge one – is the Apple Pencil.
If you want a reason to shout, “well, if Steve were here!” this is your golden opportunity.
The iPad Air is compatible with the second-generation Apple Pencil, which is a wonderful thing. It attaches magnetically to the side of the iPad for charging and stowage, it’s just the right length, and it has a flat side to stop it from rolling off everything.
The 10th generation iPad is only compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil.
This presents two issues.
The first is the fact that the first-generation Apple Pencil charges via Lightning. Now, whether or not Apple forgot about this and only realised when it was too late, I have no idea, but it has left us with the need to buy a £9 USB-C to Apple Pencil Adapter.
For the uninitiated, the first-generation Apple Pencil is charged by removing a cap from one end (which you’ll lose, immediately) and plugging it into the iPad’s Lightning port. This, quite rightly, has encouraged as much internet laughter and derision as the price of the Pro Display XDR stand. But because there is no Lightning port on the 10th generation iPad, you now have to connect that stupid adapter first, before attaching the Apple Pencil, which means your horizontal Apple Pencil will now begin to enter the airspace of the table next to you while charging the accessory in your favourite coffee shop.
The second issue this presents is that the first-generation Apple Pencil is, well, really shit.
Give me strength.
Winner: iPad Air 5 & 6.
10th generation iPad vs iPad Air 5 vs M2 iPad Air: Camera
On the back, the cameras for the 10th-generation iPad and the M1 iPad Air are exactly the same. And you’ll never use them.
On the front, I think they’re the same. Apple refers to the 10th generation iPad’s FaceTime camera as a ‘landscape Ultra Wide camera’, whereas the iPad Air 5 and M2 6th generation iPad Air has a ‘12MP Ultra Wide front camera’. If someone could explain the difference (it isn’t the 12 megapixels) I’d be immensely grateful.
More importantly, they both feature Centre Stage support, which is what matters.
The big M2 iPad Air however, like the 10th-generation iPad and M4 iPad Pro, has its FaceTime camera in the correct position within the landscape edge of the device- great for video calls. That’s literally the only difference however.
Winner: a tie.
10th generation iPad vs iPad Air vs M2 iPad Air: Specifications & More
Here’s a table that compares the main details of the three devices.
| Feature | iPad 10 | iPad Air 5 | M2 iPad Air 6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display Size | 10.9-inch | 10.9-inch | 11-inch & 13-inch |
| Display Type | Liquid Retina | Liquid Retina | Liquid Retina |
| Processor | A14 Bionic | M1 | M2 |
| Storage Options | 64GB, 256GB | 64GB, 256GB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Camera (Rear) | 12MP Wide | 12MP Wide | 12MP Wide |
| Camera (Front) | 12MP Ultra Wide (Landscape) | 12MP Ultra Wide (Landscape) | 12MP Ultra Wide (Landscape) |
| Apple Pencil Support | 1st generation, Supports Apple Pencil (USB-C) | 2nd generation, Supports Apple Pencil (USB-C) | 2nd generation, Apple Pencil Pro, Supports Apple Pencil (USB-C) |
| Touch ID | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USB-C Port | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 5G Connectivity | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Battery Life | Up to 10 hours | Up to 10 hours | Up to 10 hours |
| Weight | 477 grams (Wi-Fi) | 461 grams (Wi-Fi) | 461 grams (Wi-Fi), 617 grams (13″ M2) |
Conclusion
If you’re wondering, the 10th generation iPad and iPad Air are pretty much identical when it comes to size and weight, too. The iPad Air is about 1mm thinner and weighs 16 grams less than its cheaper counterpart. The M2 Air 11” is the same weight and size of the 5th gen, whereas the 13” model is significantly heavier at 618g, but it’s the same thinness.
Which would I buy? Despite the cool colours, I’d buy the iPad Air 5!
Putting my continued confusion over why Apple isn’t doing anything with the M-chips it places into iPads to one side, they are the fastest you can buy, and for the relatively small premium, you might as well ensure you’re future-proofing a purchase you’re unlikely to repeat as often as your iPhone.
The screen is also measurably better on the iPad Airs, if not much of a big deal, day-to-day.
But the clincher for me is the Apple Pencil. It remains one of Apple’s best accessories since the introduction of the second generation, and the decision to saddle the 10th generation iPad with the worst version is cruel. It suggests a concerted effort to gimp the new ‘cheaper’ iPad in ways Apple thinks the intended user base will either not notice or not understand.
It’s also frustrating, yet expected, that neither the 10 or the Air 5 iPads are compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro.
The biggest problem with the 10th generation iPad is that it is no longer the entry-level iPad. That role remains with the 9th generation, which can still be purchased for the tempting starting price of £279.97 from Amazon. This makes the 10th generation an extremely weird device which is a very hard sell – unless you desperately want a pink one.
The iPad Air 5 remains the best iPad in this price bracket, and with so few pounds separating the two, it makes sense to search high and low for the extra cash needed to buy Apple’s best non-Pro regular iPad.
10 Comments
Excellent and honest review. Much appreciated.
Great comparison post! I’m currently on the fence between these two models. I really like the idea of the larger display on the iPad Air 5, but I’m also drawn to the sleeker design of the iPad 10th Generation. Do you think one of these features is a game-changer in terms of deciding which one to go with? Thanks for your insight!
This post is a great example of a comparison. I appreciate your perspective!
Now that’s called a great and honest review, thanks for sharing your valuable thought on this it make anyone to choose what they need.
Really great review, helps me a lot to decide what to purchase!
Thank you, very good comparison. Just one correction, the camera on the iPad Air 5 is located on the short edge, unlike the other two iPads.
Just bought the m2 , I buy for longevity, also got a very good price
This article provides an insightful, well-structured comparison of the iPad 10th Gen and iPad Air 5, helping readers make informed decisions. Perfect for tech lovers! 📱✨ #TechGuide #iPadReview
This comparison is exactly what I was looking for! It’s so helpful to see the key differences broken down clearly. Each iPad has its own strengths, and it really comes down to personal needs and budget. Great job covering all the important aspects!
Wonderful, personal, and forthright review. Superb comparisons, with real world practical judgments.
One nit-pick. There’s nary a word about PWM (pulse width modulation), temporal dithering, or build quality. There are significant differences as the latter two.
Another thing. The use of vulgarity — the s word — is off-putting. It’s not only sweepingly dismissive — and jarring in the context of an even-handed, fair-minded review, but reflects an undeveloped vocabulary! 🙂 Surely, you can dig through your thesaurus — or, even better, your Shakespeare — and unearth several phrases or clever turns of phrase — or even creative invective — that would describe the issue more richly and serve you better.
Think about why you’re describing the pencil so crudely and sweepingly. More apt would be phrases such as “colossal blunder”, “glorious gaffe”, “junior engineer failure”, etc. Invite the reader in without using a vacuous middle-school playground word as the kids titter over a bad word.
Or, the Bard would suggest: “dead as a doornail”, “ill-favored thing”, “a fool’s paradise”, “fatal vision”, “send him packing”, “midsummer madness”, “What the dickens?”, “We have seen better days”, and “neither rhyme nor reason”.