It’s been ten days since Apple announced the iPhone SE (2022) and the iPad Air (2022), and now these two gadgets are available to buy – meaning that if you pre-ordered them, you might find them on your doorstep today.
For those who were waiting for reviews, we’ve delivered our full verdict on both, awarding them each four stars.
Of the iPhone SE (2022) we said that it’s powerful for what it costs (thanks to packing the same A15 Bionic chipset as the iPhone 13 range) and praised the presence of 5G, but noted that the 64GB starting size is stingy – especially given that it has a higher price than the iPhone SE (2020).
As for the iPad Air (2022), that has similar upgrades, with the powerful M1 chipset found in the latest iPad Pro models, along with the addition of 5G. But it also starts at a stingy 64GB, and its price is creeping rather close to that of the iPad Pro.
So there are similar pros and cons across these two new Apple gadgets, but they’ll undoubtedly be great options for some buyers.
If you haven’t put your order in yet, you can grab the iPhone SE (2022) starting at $429 / £419 / AU$719, while the iPad Air (2022) starts at $599 / £569 / AU$929. Or you can find iPhone SE deals here and iPad Air deals here.
Analysis: Apple might need to rethink things next year
While these are both impressive devices and strong upgrades on their predecessors, they also have issues that Apple should really address for the next models.
The iPhone SE (2022) has what’s now an incredibly dated design, so we’ll really be unimpressed if Apple trots it out again next time – a move to the modern look with Face ID in place of Touch ID is much needed.
There’s a good chance that move will happen though, especially as Apple is rumored to be further modernizing the design of its top phones, by removing the notch from the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. So if the next iPhone SE has a notch, it will still stand out as a lower end model.
As for the iPad Air, Apple’s real problem here is that the latest model is now very similar to the iPad Pro range, so big changes could be needed either to the next one or to the next iPad Pros to differentiate them.
