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iPad Air 2 pricing & availability: starts at $499, preorder Oct. 17, ships next week

Following an official unveiling of its new second generation iPad Air at its press event today, Apple has now confirmed the device will start at $499 and ship next week. Preorders for the new iPad Air 2 kick off tomorrow, Oct. 17.

The $499 starting price for the new iPad Air is for the 16GB, Wi-Fi only model matching the prices of the previous generation iPad Air. Apple will also offer 32GB ($599), 64GB ($699) and 128GB ($799) variants for the usual $100 premium. The cellular model of the iPad Air 2 starts at the same $629 for the 16GB model as the previous generation. 

With the new iPad Air 2 retaining the same pricing as the previous generation, Apple announced it will also continue selling the previous generation a new lower price point.

The new iPad Air features an 18% slimmer design, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, a gold color option and a number of other improved internals. Full specs and details on new features are available here.

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Comments

  1. Havoc (@TotalHavoc) - 9 years ago

    Prices are wrong… 64GB is $599 and 128 is $699. Same strategy as iPhone 6. There is no 32GB model anymore

  2. Patrick L Ellis - 9 years ago

    I cannot believe that they are keeping 16 GB as the starting size… I’m ready to upgrade my original iPad 2. But the 32 GB I have is insufficient. I assumed that the iPad Air 2 would at LEAST follow the iPhone 6 pathway and have 64 GB be the middle tier. I was ready to upgrade. I will wait until I can get the 64 GB for $600 or less.

  3. David Moore (@Davva360) - 9 years ago

    I want one. Hopefully Best Buy will have them on launch day. I have an old iPad 2 to trade, a gift card and a 10% off coupon so I should make out. Just hope they have them in. I will be looking for a 64GB wifi only Air 2, don’t really care what color.

  4. Liam Deckham - 9 years ago

    Why oh why could they have not given us a 256 GB iPad? iPad Air 2 is not worth the upgrade from iPad Air.

    The iPhone had its storage doubled. Double the iPad.

  5. This is garunteed to bend. Iphone 6 plus 7.1 mm bends easily how is 6.1mm going to fair with the giant surface area of the tablet. Can see bendgate 2.0

  6. i haven’t watched the event yet–did they say whether or not T-Mobile will carry it? Or do you have to get it directly from Apple?

  7. verizon2828 - 9 years ago

    What time do the preorders start? Will it be midnight PST and 3am EST again like the iPhone?

    • stre12 - 9 years ago

      For sure not midnight pdt because at 12:12am it was still unavailable on the apple website

  8. still not available to ship at 7:00 a.m. EST. Forget it…I’ll keep my original IPad Air

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.