13-Inch iPad Air Features 20% Brighter Display Than 11-Inch iPad Air

Friday May 10, 2024 7:41 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

The new 13-inch iPad Air has a max display brightness of 600 nits, which is 20% higher than the 11-inch iPad Air, according to Apple's tech specs for the devices.

M2 iPad Air Hero Feature Purple
This means the 13-inch iPad Air's peak brightness is equal to the previous-generation iPad Pro models with the M2 chip for standard dynamic range (SDR) content, but the new iPad Pro models have brighter OLED displays that can reach up to 1,000 nits for SDR content, and up to 1,600 nits for high dynamic range (HDR) content.

Peak brightness levels (SDR) for recent iPad Pro and iPad Air models:

13-inch iPad Pro (M4): 1,000 nits
11-inch iPad Pro (M4): 1,000 nits
12.9-inch iPad Pro (M2): 600 nits
11-inch iPad Pro (M2): 600 nits
13-inch iPad Air: 600 nits
11-inch iPad Air (M2): 500 nits
10.9-inch iPad Air (M1): 500 nits

The brightness change for the 13-inch iPad Air was spotted by Saran, who runs the tech-focused YouTube channel SaranByte.

The new iPad Air models are available to order now and launch May 15. Key new features include the M2 chip, the front camera moved to the landscape edge, Wi-Fi 6E support, Apple Pencil Pro support, and new color options.

Related Roundup: iPad Air

Buyer's Guide: iPad Air (Neutral)

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Top Rated Comments

trip1ex

33 months ago

Makes sense because the 13" is almost 20% bigger than the 11".

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

maddogeco

33 months ago

Which model can go the dimmes? I use my 2017 iPad Pro on minimum brightness far more than max brightness when I’m reading in bed.

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

svish

33 months ago

Would have liked for both display sizes to have similar display. Hopefully the next version will have same brightness.

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Confused-User

33 months ago

Makes sense because the 13" is almost 20% bigger than the 11".

The display is actually 40% larger in area. So it’s a plus overall for the 11”. ;)

That's not how it works.

"nit" measures brightness per area. So dividing by area to say the 11" is brighter is an error.

Put another way: If you set both 11" and 13" to show a max brightness white display, and you covered each display entirely except for one square inch, the square inch on the 13" would be brighter than the square inch on the 11".

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)