The new iPad Air gets its first big price drop at Amazon

Just under a month after its release, the new iPad Air is seeing its first significant price drops over at Amazon. The discount is only $20, but that’s enough to bring the price of the 64GB model to $479, down from the retail price of $499.99. And as a reminder, you won’t even to pay shipping if you’re an Amazon Prime member.

The iPad Air is a great device if you want a machine that almost handles like an iPad Pro but lacks some “pro” bells and whistles, like Apple’s ProMotion display refresh technology. The new Air also retains the old iPad form factor, so you have access to Touch ID, a headphone jack, and some big bezels. It also only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil (and its infamously losable cap). Fortunately, Amazon is also selling the Pencil for $5 off, which brings the price down to $94.

It’s an excellent and powerful machine, especially considering that it’s packing the same A12 Bionic chip you’ll find in both the iPhone XS and XR. In our review, we called the iPad Air “the sweet spot for most users,” as it’s better than the basic 9.7-inch iPad but doesn’t venture into overkill territory like the new iPad Pros.

As reviewer Jason Cross said at the time:

“While I think Apple’s product lineup is getting too big and complex, we legitimately need a solution in the middle, and the iPad Air fits in nicely. For $499 you get a huge step up in features, performance, and storage over the $329 iPad. You miss out on a number of benefits of the iPad Pro: a ProMotion display, quad speakers, Face ID, a superior camera, faster A12X processor, and support for the new-and-improved wireless Apple Pencil. But you get most of what the average iPad buyer wants most: a fast modern processor, plenty of storage space, a wide color display with TrueTone, Pencil support (first-generation), and yes, a headphone jack.”