The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 review

Summary

The iPad Air 2 is Apple's most powerful tablet yet, and is incredibly thin and light. It's a solid upgrade over last year's Air, and should definitely be one of your top tablet considerations.

Pros

Beautiful, thin aluminum design
Incredibly powerful A8X chip
Touch ID included
Upgraded camera

Cons

Battery life could be better
Some will miss the mute switch

It's a conflicting time for Apple. On one hand, it's a joyous occasion for the company because its latest iPhones, which come in larger screen sizes than the last, set new sales records worldwide; but on the other hand, its lineup of iPads just experienced its third straight quarterly decline. Coincidentally, this comes just a week after Apple announced its annual tablet refresh, which includes a thinner and more powerful version of the iPad Air along with a Touch ID-enabled mini with Retina display.

Just because it's down doesn't mean it's out. Giving up on a product category isn't really Apple's style, and last week, it offered up the Air 2 as exhibit A. The company made it clear that making a solid top-of-the-line tablet is on the top of its to-do list, so naturally the new 10-inch device got plenty of upgrades in nearly every aspect of its design. Curiously, it didn't give the mini lineup the same kind of treatment: The mini 3 got so little love this time around that the best news about it is the fact that last year's version is now $100 cheaper. Should the new iPads still get a place in the consumer's backpack? Read on to find out.

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