CUPERTINO, CA — In a 47-minute pre-recorded livestream that opened with aerial drone footage of a building most viewers have already seen from a drone, Apple on Thursday introduced the eleventh-generation iPad Air, a device engineered for the rapidly expanding consumer segment of people whose current iPad works fine and whose previous iPad is in a drawer.
The new model, executives said, is 18% thinner, 22% faster, and powered by the M4 chip — sufficient processing headroom, the company noted, to run the four apps the average iPad owner actually opens, which are Safari, Netflix, the Kindle app, and the one where you draw on a photo of your dog.
“This is the iPad we’ve always wanted to make,” said an Apple vice president seated on a stool in what appeared to be a converted aircraft hangar, gesturing at a tablet that resembled, in every observable particular, the previous iPad. “It’s our most ambitious iPad yet, and it’s available in a new color we’re calling Sand.”
Industry analysts framed the launch as a strategic pivot toward the company’s most loyal demographic. “Apple has correctly identified that the people most likely to buy a new iPad are people who already bought an iPad and are therefore the kind of person who buys iPads,” said Marin Cho, a hardware analyst at Beacon Strategy. “They’re not chasing new users. They’re chasing the same user across three product cycles.”
The device’s marquee feature, Apple Intelligence Plus, will summarize emails the user could have read in less time than the summary took to generate, and offers a new “Reword” function that converts polite messages into slightly more polite messages. A demonstration showed the AI rewriting “Thanks!” as “Thank you so much — I really appreciate it!” to audible applause from no one, as the event had no audience.
Also announced was a redesigned Magic Keyboard accessory priced at $299, which now includes a function row, a feature available on every other keyboard manufactured since 1987. The Apple Pencil Pro, sold separately for $129, has been updated with a new haptic engine that simulates the feeling of writing on paper, a sensation available for free at any location with paper.
Reaction among existing iPad owners was muted. “I have one of these,” said Greg Halloran, a Cupertino-area accountant who watched the keynote on his iPad. “I have the one from two years ago. It does everything. I don’t know what I’d do with a thinner one. Hold it more, I guess.”
Environmental commitments featured prominently in the back half of the presentation, with Apple noting that the new iPad’s enclosure is made from 100% recycled aluminum, much of it sourced, the company implied without quite saying, from the previous iPad the consumer is being encouraged to trade in. The trade-in credit, depending on condition, ranges from $80 to $145, or roughly the cost of the pencil.
The new iPad Air will ship March 19, with preorders opening Friday. Apple stock rose 1.4% on the announcement, a movement analysts attributed to investor confidence that consumers will, once again, buy the thing.