13-inch iPad Air: bigger is better

I’ve been an iPad user from the very beginning. In the 14 years since the first iPad was released, I’ve bought four models – all of which had roughly 10-inch screen diagonals. Every now and then, I’ve wondered whether a larger screen would be better. At first, it wasn’t available at all, then only for the expensive iPad Pro, which boasted more performance than I needed.

Now the iPad Air is finally available in a large version – and in a price range I can afford.

Huge advantage when it comes to sheet music, magazines and comics

Some people see the iPad as just an inflated iPhone that you can’t use for calls. From this perspective, of course, it makes no sense to make the device unwieldier still.

But the iPad has long been much more than that. It features an independent operating system with significantly more options than the iPhone. To give you just a few examples, apps in movable windows, multitasking, menus and keyboard shortcuts are all purely available for the iPad. And you’d only be able to get the benefit of it with a reasonably large screen. In other words, the iPad offers enough to justify a screen size similar to that of a notebook.

How big is 13 inches anyway? The screen on the large iPad Air comes in at 262 × 196 mm. This isn’t far off the 297 × 210 mm of an A4 sheet. To put this into perspective, 10 and 11 inch tablets are nowhere near the A4 format.

Sometimes this difference is significant, such as with sheet music. Musicians often buy the iPad Pro, even if they don’t require its performance, simply because sheet music only reads really well on a big screen. These files come as PDFs or images, i.e. with a fixed layout.

Even if you read PDFs of magazines or newspapers, you’re better off with a large screen. That being said, it can’t display a classic newspaper with large pages correctly, you still need to zoom in. But magazines, which often have a similar format to A4, are more pleasant to read. Comics are also more fun.

13 inches are of little use for text and videos

However, when it comes to browsing websites or reading novels in e-book form, I don’t see any advantage over the smaller iPads. Narrow lines are pleasant to read and scrolling is also effortless. However, one benefit is that the layout is flexible. I can read the 13-inch iPad from a greater distance, meaning I’m less dependent on glasses. That being said, the iPad is usually sitting on my table when I use it, so the viewing distance is always about 40 cm.

It’s a similar story with videos. I can watch from slightly further away when the image is just as large. But when I’m 40 cm away, the image is so large I sometimes have to move my head slightly – it just feels too close.

Stage Manager allows flexible window sizes

A larger tablet is, of course, heavier and less convenient, but when it comes to perusing media, there are no disadvantages whatsoever. If an element on the screen is too big, you can always use Stage Manager to make it smaller, as it displays and groups open apps in different window sizes. It’s really practical how seamlessly you can switch between Stage Manager and the standard full screen. Simply drag the bottom right-hand edge in the desired direction.

You’d think the large iPad and Stage Manager were made for each other. If I reduce the size of the window slightly, I can see the last four open apps on the left and the dock at the bottom. However, the window content is still larger than on my 10-inch iPad.

An app that only supports landscape format can also be displayed in portrait format – in a window with landscape format. This window is still large enough on the 13-inch iPad but would be too small on a smaller iPad.

Virtual keyboard: more is more

The virtual keyboard is the only element you can’t make smaller; it always covers the entire screen. While I can still type comfortably with two thumbs on the 10-inch iPad in portrait format, it’s incredibly tedious on a 13-inch model. Other than that, the larger screen is almost entirely a win-win for the keyboard.

It’s not just the buttons that are bigger on the 13-inch screen. The keyboard itself is specially adapted for this screen so it boasts lots more keys. As with a physical keyboard, there’s a row of numbers above the letters – this is missing on the small iPad.

On the small iPad keyboard, numbers and special characters are accessed by swiping the corresponding key downwards. I’m always amazed how many people don’t know this, probably because it doesn’t work on the iPhone. It doesn’t work on the large iPad keyboard either. I think that’s a bit of a shame, because certain special characters, such as the @ sign still aren’t immediately accessible.

But equally, omitting this swiping motion makes the virtual keyboard feel even more like its physical counterpart. With the iPad Air 13, it’s the first time I’ve ever really typed with ten fingers using an on-screen keyboard.

Apps offer more on a large screen

Nowadays, most apps support a variable size, which is created by Stage Manager or different screen sizes. For instance, a map app shows a larger section rather than the same section enlarged.

Some apps are even adapted so that they offer more functionality on a larger screen. I noticed this with the GarageBand and Korg Gadget music apps in particular. While I have to constantly switch between track and recording view on the small iPad, I’m able to see both on the large tablet, which is very practical.

What else?

The reason I’m concentrating on the screen size in this review is that everything else is obvious even without putting it to the test. The processor is an M2, the same as in last year’s iPad Pro, so the computing power should be practically identical. And sufficient for 99% of cases.

At 617 g, the larger iPad Air is, of course, heavier than the 11-inch version at 462 g. It’s even slightly heavier than the current iPad Pro (579 g) but lighter than the 2002 iPad Pro (682 g). Whether this is important or not depends on how you intend to use it. Normally I put my tablet on the table, so a hundred grammes here or there doesn’t make a difference. Bear in mind, the first iPad weighed 680 g and was about twice as thick. And it was still usable.

The 13-inch iPad Air screen boasts an anti-reflective coating and is significantly less reflective than that of my iPad 9. It’s designed to cover the P3 colour space, unlike the standard iPad. At 600 nits, the screen is brighter than the smaller iPad Air, which only manages 500 nits. And yes, you can see the difference. My iPad 9 also boasts 500 nits.

The angular shape has remained unchanged since 2020, so no surprises here. It’s not ideal, as I have trouble picking the iPad off the table, unlike my rounded iPad 9. The latter also feels thinner, although it’s not.

The battery is larger on the 13-inch Air, but the screen also requires more power. At 10 hours, the battery life Apple specifies is the same for both the large and small iPad Air. However, this might not be the reality in every case. For example, if I connect my audio interface Motu M2, the iPad powers it, even if the screen is switched off. And a larger battery simply lasts longer.