iPad Air 5 to launch with an Apple M1, 5G connectivity and in a new purple colourway

Apple will host its first hardware event of 2022 later today, where it is expected to unveil at least the iPad Air 5 and iPhone SE 5G. Reportedly, the company could announce the Apple Studio Display and Mac Studio as well, renders of which leaked yesterday. According to multiple sources, Apple will shake up the iPad Air with its fifth-generation model, not least with a colour change.

Specifically, Apple is rumoured to have created a purple version of the iPad Air 5, likely the same shade that it already sells with the iPad mini 6. It is unclear whether the iPad Air 5 will adopt all the colours of its smaller sibling, which would end the Green, Sky Blue and Silver options available with the iPad Air 4.

Additionally, 9to5Mac claims that Apple will equip the iPad Air 5 with its M1 SoC, not the A15 Bionic as previous rumours suggested. The website adds that the iPad Air 5 will receive the slower variant of the M1, which has seven GPU cores instead of eight. Moreover, the next iPad Air will arrive with a 5G modem, matching the last year's iPad Pro series. However, the iPad Air 5 will not include a ProMotion display, Face ID or a LiDAR scanner; all present on the iPad Pro 11 and iPad Pro 12.9.

Potentially, the iPad Air 5 could launch with 8 GB of RAM too, double the RAM that the iPad Air 4 has. Also, Centre Stage should appear on this year's iPad Air, currently available on the iPad mini 6, iPad (9th generation) and Apple's latest iPad Pro tablets. Pricing for the iPad Air 5 remains unknown at this stage.

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