Apple iPad Air (2019) review: excellent screen and fast processor but it only supports first-gen Pencil, speakers are on one side, and no Face ID
A good step up from the basic iPad — There sure are a lot of different iPads now. Last week's announcement of a new iPad Air and iPad mini means …
Context & Ripple Effects
The 2019 iPad Air is Apple's mid-tier refresh: a better screen and faster processor than the basic iPad, but with three deliberate downgrades from the Pro — first-gen Pencil support only, speakers on one side, and no Face ID. It matters because it defines what the 'Air' tier is allowed to inherit.
The follow-on coverage shows how that definition played out. The 2020 Air review records the biggest correction — compatibility with iPad Pro accessories — while the 2026 iPad Air M4 review shows the one complaint that never got fixed: still no Face ID, seven years on.
First-order effects
- Buyers choosing between the basic iPad and the Air get the screen and processor upgrade but are locked into first-gen Pencil hardware and Touch ID, keeping the Face ID experience exclusive to the iPad Pro tier.
- Accessory makers and Pencil owners face a fragmented lineup: the 2019 Air cannot use newer Pencil generations, so stylus purchases depend on which iPad tier a buyer picks.
Second-order effects
- Once the 2020 Air adopted iPad Pro accessory compatibility, the Air-Pro boundary shifted from accessories to chips and biometrics — forcing Apple to differentiate the tiers on processor class and Face ID instead of peripheral lock-in.
- Rival tablet makers gain a clear opening at the mid-tier price point, since the Air's recurring compromises (one-sided speakers, older Pencil, no Face ID) are exactly where a competitor can spec-match at the same price.
Third-order effects
- The persistence of no-Face-ID across every subsequent Air generation — through the M1, M3, and M4 models — points to biometric authentication functioning as a permanent product-line boundary rather than a cost limitation that time would erase.
- If the pattern holds, Apple's tablet strategy is structural tiering: each Air refresh absorbs last cycle's Pro silicon while the Pro retains exclusive features, training buyers to treat the Air as the value tier rather than a smaller Pro.
The trend: Apple's iPad line is settling into a durable tier system where mid-tier Air models inherit Pro-class processors but permanently trail the Pro on features like Face ID, making the tier boundaries a design choice rather than a technology gap.