Why You Can Trust CNET New iPad Air is arriving Oct. 23, and you can preorder now
Apple's redesigned midrange iPad arrives at the same time as the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.
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The iPad Air gets a lot of color options, too.
Do you want a new iPhone, or a new iPad? Apple's October product lineup is offering both at once. The new iPad Air, announced a month ago, is arriving Oct. 23, and it went up for preorder early Friday. It has a redesigned look and a new A14 processor, which should be similar to the processors on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro coming on the same day.
The Air looks like a more affordable variation of the 11-inch iPad Pro, with a 10.9-inch display and support for Apple's second-generation Pencil and Magic Keyboard case. It also switches to USB-C for charging, like the iPad Pro models, but lacks the extra cameras and lidar depth-sensing of the Pro model. It has a 12-megapixel back camera and a 7MP one on the front.
It's available in space gray, silver, rose gold, green and sky blue, and you can choose between 64GB and 256GB models.
iPad Air preorder options: Apple | Amazon | Best Buy | Walmart
But at $599 to start -- plus $130 if you opt for a cellular-capable model -- it's a lot more expensive than the very capable but older-design 8th-gen iPad, which got its own processor boost to an A12 in September. The 8th-gen iPad remains our pick for most iPad shoppers, but we'll see soon enough how good the iPad Air is and whether it's a suitable iPad Pro alternative.
CNET's Sean Keane contributed to this report.
