2 Reasons to Pre-Order the iPad Air 6 & 4 Reasons to Wait

Apple’s announced its new iPad Air 6 and if you’re debating whether or not to place a pre-order, we’re here to help.

The all-new iPad Air is the sixth version of the popular tablet and the new model comes with intriguing upgrades. These include a new landscape FaceTime camera, better sound quality, and a larger 13-inch model.

The new model starts at $599 and it’s on sale in the United States at Apple and its retail partners starting today. It officially lands on shelves next week.

Now that we’re in the midst of the pre-order period, you might be debating a pre-order. There are certainly reasons why you might want to order the new iPad Air 6 right now.

Pre-ordering ensures you’ll get the model you want in a timely manner. You can also save money via trade-in deals at Apple and its partners.

There are also reasons why you might want to hang back, if only for a little bit longer, before you make your move.

In this guide we’ll take you through the best reasons to pre-order a iPad Air 6 and the best reasons to skip one.

Pre-Order If You Want It ASAP

If you want Apple’s new iPad Air in your hands as soon as possible, you’ll want to place a pre-order. If you do it soon, you’ll ensure you get the exact model you want next week.

We can’t predict how things will go exactly, but we may see some iPad Air 6 models start to sell out for release day delivery over the course of the pre-order period.

If you want a particular screen size, color, and/or storage configuration, it’s probably worth it to put in a a pre-order so you get exactly what you want in a timely manner.

Buy Now If You’re Trading In

If you have a tablet to trade-in right now, you might want to pre-order today.

Apple and its partners are offering trade-in offers that will help you save money on a new iPad Air. Some promotions may be timed which means they won’t last forever.

We’ll also see the trade-in values of older iPads and other tablets drop over time so if you want the most money back, it might be wise to buy now.

Wait for iPad Air 6 Reviews

The iPad Air 6 looks like a worthwhile successor to the iPad Air 5. It looks good on paper, but you may not need everything it has to offer.

iPad Air 6 reviews aren’t live yet. That said, we do expect them to go live before the device hits shelves later on this month.

While pre-ordering the device might seem like a good idea, a lot of people are better off waiting for reviews from critics and, in some cases, feedback from early adopters.

If you’re on a budget, and/or you’re conflicted about which version of the iPad Air 6 to buy, we recommend waiting for short-term and long-term feedback to emerge.

Wait If You Aren’t Prepared

If you aren’t properly prepared to buy a new iPad Air right now, hold off on a pre-order.

Before you invest your money into the device, spend some time prepping for your purchase. Individual needs will vary, but here are a few things to consider.

First, you may want to go hands-on with the device before buying it. You’ll be able to do so in the near future, but you can’t do it right now. You may also want to go hands-on with its closest competitors.

If you think you might want the iPad Air 6 with cellular data, research carriers and data plans. You might want to use this purchase as an excuse to change providers.

If you start feeling unprepared or uneasy when you sit down to buy the device, you should probably wait.

Wait for Other iPad Air 6 Deals

The first iPad Air 6 deals will require you to trade a device into Apple or another company. We don’t expect to see price cuts right away.

If you don’t have a tablet to trade-in and you can’t or don’t want to pay full price for the device, skip a pre-order and wait for price cuts.

The first iPad Air 6 deals will likely emerge in the summer once hype from the launch has died down.

Wait for Apple to Fix Problems

If you’re worried about potential hardware or software problems, and we don’t blame you if you are, you might want to wait a few weeks before buying an iPad Air 6.

The device runs Apple’s iPadOS 17 operating system out of the box. And while Apple’s ironed out issue, it’s still plagued by bugs and performance issues and the iPad Air 6 could have problems of its own.

Apple will roll out new iPadOS 17 software in the coming days so it might be worth it to wait for Apple to push out a batch of bug fixes before making a purchase.

New iPads sometimes debut with hardware issues as well. If you’re concerned, you might want to hang back and see what kind of problems early adopters run into in the days or weeks ahead.