SpecEagle review · Apple

Apple iPad Air (3rd gen, 2019) review: A 10.5" Air with A12 Bionic and Apple Pencil support.

Item: Apple iPad Air (3rd gen, 2019)
Rating: 70
Author: SpecEagle Editorial

SpecEagle Editorial·Mar 2019·$499

Overall

70/100

Class rank

#1 of 3

Tier

Mid-range

Buy?

At the right price

The verdict, up front

A return of the iPad Air.

iPad Air 3 revived the Air line at $499 — A12 Bionic flagship power and Apple Pencil support in the mid-tier slot.

01Display

76/100

At 76/100 this is one of the strongest display showings among mid-range phones of 2019 — 8 points above the cohort average.

TypeRetina IPS LCD, True Tone

Size10.5 inches

Resolution2,224 × 1,668 px (264 ppi)

02Camera

56/100

56/100 trails the 61-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2019.

Main8 MP, f/2.4

Selfie7 MP

03Performance

76/100

76/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2019.

ChipsetApple A12 Bionic

RAM3 GB

Storage64 / 256 GB

04Battery

80/100

At 80/100 this is one of the strongest battery showings among mid-range phones of 2019 — 8 points above the cohort average.

Capacity8,134 mAh

WiredLightning

05Build

78/100

78/100 puts it above the 76-point average for mid-range phones of 2019.

06Value

74/100

74/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2019.

What works

A12 Bionic flagship power at $499.
Apple Pencil 1 support arrives on Air.
3.5 mm jack survives.
Long software support.

What doesn't

Lightning, not USB-C.
Curved edges (pre-redesign).
Only 1 rear camera.
No second-gen Pencil.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 3-phone cohort of mid-range devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .