iPad Air (1st generation)

One-pound iPad Air industrial design

Re-engineered chassis that was 20% thinner (7.5 mm vs 9.4 mm), 28% lighter (469 g / 1.0 lb vs 652 g), and had 43% narrower side bezels, reducing overall device volume by 24%.

64-bit Apple A7 SoC and M7 coprocessor

Desktop-class 64-bit ARMv8 Cyclone architecture with over 1 billion transistors, doubling CPU and graphics performance compared to the A6X; accompanied by the M7 motion coprocessor offloading sensor data processing.

MIMO 802.11n Wi-Fi

Dual-antenna multiple-input multiple-output Wi-Fi technology enabling data transfer rates up to 300 Mbps (2x prior generation).

Dual microphones

Dual mic array providing active background noise reduction for FaceTime calls and cleaner audio capture.

Expanded global LTE bands

Single cellular hardware architecture supporting expanded international LTE bands across global carriers.

Space Gray finish

Replaced the previous Slate finish with Space Gray alongside Silver.

Downsized high-efficiency battery

Battery capacity reduced from 42.5 Wh to 32.4 Wh (24% reduction in physical size) enabled by the energy efficiency of the 28nm A7 chip, while preserving the full 10-hour battery life benchmark.

Nano-SIM on 9.7-inch chassis

Transitioned the 9.7-inch cellular model from micro-SIM to nano-SIM.