Amazon Prime Day is nearly here, and there are plenty of excellent early Prime Day deals ahead of the colossal salves event. And if you’re in the market for one of the best iPads, do I ever have the discount for you.
Right now, the iPad Air 13-inch M2 is on sale for $748 at Amazon, which is a record low for this tablet. Normally Apple’s lightweight slab retails at $799 so you’re saving a cool $51 if you take the plunge on this deal.
This particular deal is for the larger 13-inch M2 model, which comes in either blue, purple, Space Gray or Starlight. During our Apple 13-inch iPad Air 2024 review, editor in-chief Mark Spoonauer praised the Air’s strong M2 performance and long battery life, while also commending Apple for making it compatible with the new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro.
While it’s a bummer the new M2 iPad Air models don’t get the OLED screen the new iPad Pro 2024 has just been treated to, we were still mightily impressed with the Air’s pin-sharp LED panel that delivers a resolution of (2732 x 2048 pixels) that produces tremendously punchy pictures when you’re watching the best Netflix movies.
Our lab testing has the iPad Air 2024 blowing away the Galaxy Tab S9 across various benchmarks. In our Geekbench tests, iPad Air M2 produced a single-core score of 2,600 and a dual score of 10,066. For context, the Tab S9 nabbed scores of 2,116 and 7,151. Ouch for the Galaxy.
Predictably, the M2 chip also allows the iPad Air 2024 to become a battery beast. In our tests, which involve constant web-browsing at a peak screen brightness of 150 nits, the latest Air bodied both the Galaxy Tab S9 and 2022’s iPad Air 5, lasting 11 hours 30 minutes, compared to the Tab S9’s 9 hours and 26 minutes and the older Air’s 10 hours 9 minutes.
Thanks to the wider widget of its front 12MP camera, it's easier to take video calls, especially if you’ve paired the Air with the Magic Keyboard (sold separately). While the lack of Face ID disappoints, the fact a tablet this skinny can produce such quality audio is down to the Air M2’s remarkable speakers. As a result, the iPad Air 2024 often sounds better than many of the best laptops.
If you just want a gorgeous Netflix machine that can last for hours and hours without a charge, the iPad Air M2 makes a whole lot of sense at this reduced price point.
