Here’s how the latest iPad Pro compares to the new iPad Air (and previous models)

After astir a two-year wait, Apple yet updated its iPad lineup pinch a thinner iPad Pro and caller iPad Air. The caller tablets commencement astatine $999 and $599, respectively, and some are already disposable to preorder up of their May 15th merchandise date.

These are nary iterative updates, either. For nan first time, Apple added an OLED show to nan iPad Pro, on pinch a new M4 chip. Apple besides added a 13-inch Air to nan lineup, truthful some models are now disposable successful 11- and 13-inch sizes. Combine that pinch support for astir of nan aforesaid accessories — including nan caller Apple Pencil Pro — and you now person moreover much options to see if you request a large tablet for activity aliases play.

Yet, while nan iPad Air and iPad Pro now look much alike, they disagree capable nether nan hood that it’s worthy exploring what separates nan 2 tablets. Yes, we tin confirm nan iPad Pro is remarkably bladed and features a great-looking OLED display, but is it really worthy forking retired an other $400 if you conscionable request a tablet for intermezo purposes?

To thief you determine which tablet makes nan astir consciousness for you, we’ve compared nan earthy specs of some and highlighted nan main differences truthful you tin make an informed decision. We’ll besides soon beryllium publishing our afloat reviews of some tablets, truthful beryllium judge to cheque back.

Pricing and storage

Let’s commencement pinch nan basics. Pricing is nan astir evident differentiator betwixt nan caller iPad Pro and iPad Air. The Wi-Fi-enabled 11- and 13-inch iPad Airs commencement astatine $599 and $799, respectively, while nan cellular models commencement astatine $749 and $949. Both connection double nan guidelines retention of nan 2022 model (128GB vs. 64GB), though you tin besides configure it pinch up to 1TB of storage.

In contrast, nan Wi-Fi-enabled 11-inch iPad Pro starts astatine $999 and nan 13-inch exemplary astatine $1,299, while their cellular counterparts commencement astatine $1,199 and $1,499, respectively. Both guidelines models besides athletics 256GB of guidelines retention — double that of nan latest Air — and spell each nan measurement up to 2TB.

Design and display

In summation to nan pricing differences, Apple’s latest tablets disagree erstwhile it comes to creation and show tech. We’ve yet to put nan tablets to nan test, but in our little clip pinch nan iPad Pro, we were struck by really bladed and ray it was (it even weighs little than nan iPad Air). Sadly, nan Pro exemplary is besides little colorful; it only comes successful achromatic and silver, whereas you tin bargain nan latest iPad Air successful acheronian gray, starlight gold, ray purple, and ray blue.

Both tablets besides vessel successful 2 size configurations — 11-inch and 13-inch — but only nan Pro exemplary comes pinch Apple’s caller Ultra Retina XDR display, which uses 2 OLED panels successful tandem for accrued brightness. As a result, nan iPad Pro is tin of providing 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness for SDR / HDR contented and up to 1,600 nits highest for HDR.

The iPad Pro’s crisp OLED show besides allows for amended opposition and deeper achromatic levels than nan LED show connected nan caller iPad Air. This intends iPad Pro owners won’t person to woody pinch blooming, which is erstwhile nan ray from bright on-screen objects bleeds into darker areas surrounding it. And pinch nan nano-texture solid options disposable for nan 1TB and 2TB models, iPad Pro owners should besides brushwood little glare.

Along pinch OLED displays, nan iPad Pro continues to support Apple’s ProMotion exertion and a max refresh complaint of 120Hz, dissimilar nan iPad Air. As a result, iPad Pro users will bask a smoother scrolling and gaming experience, while integer artists will bask greater responsiveness erstwhile drafting pinch nan Apple Pencil.

Processing power

The caller iPad Pro is now powered by Apple’s M4 chip, while nan caller iPad Air now comes equipped pinch an older M2 processor. According to Apple, nan caller iPad Pro offers 50 percent faster CPU capacity than nan M2-powered iPad Pro — and thus, likely, nan caller M2-equipped iPad Air arsenic well. And erstwhile you upgrade to nan 1TB version, you’ll get a faster 10-core M4 chip, which marks nan first clip Apple has offered a processor upgrade for a circumstantial iPad model. Despite nan accrued power, however, Apple says nan caller M4 processor really uses half nan powerfulness of nan last-gen M2.

Along pinch improved CPU performance, nan M4 exemplary delivers a much powerful Neural Engine that Apple says is 60 times faster than nan first 1 it introduced successful nan A11 Bionic exemplary successful 2017. It’s besides tin of 38 trillion operators per 2nd (TOPS), which refers to nan number of mathematics calculations it tin lick per second. Again, we’ve yet to put nan tablet done its paces, but that number is still little than Qualcomm’s awesome Snapdragon X Elite’s 45 TOPS chip, which is coming to Windows laptops soon.

The caller iPad Pro besides comes pinch GPU upgrades and includes hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, which tin thief crippled developers amended analyzable scenes. The M4 spot brings support for Dynamic Caching tech to nan iPad for nan first time, too, which boosts nan capacity of master apps and games by optimizing really overmuch representation nan tablet uses for each task.

Accessories

Both nan caller iPad Air and iPad Pro support astir of nan aforesaid accessories, but, strangely, neither supports nan second-gen Apple Pencil. However, they do support nan Apple Pencil (USB‑C) released past twelvemonth and nan forthcoming Apple Pencil Pro. That intends some Pro and Air owners tin return advantage of nan caller Apple Pencil Pro features, including Find My support, haptic feedback, and compression gestures. And now that nan iPad Air features nan M2 chip, artists tin usage nan hover characteristic erstwhile reserved for nan iPad Pro, which lets you preview statement strokes made pinch nan Apple Pencil earlier you people nan screen.

The iPad Air besides supports Apple’s existing Magic Keyboard accessories for nan iPad Pro, but they won’t activity pinch nan forthcoming Magic Keyboard for nan iPad Pro (M4). That intends only iPad Pro owners will beryllium capable to usage nan high-end aluminum keyboard, which is some lighter and thinner than erstwhile models. It besides features a bigger, much responsive trackpad, comes successful 2 colors, and sports caller features for illustration a usability cardinal row.

Speakers and cameras

The iPad Air still only offers 2 stereo speakers and mics, whereas nan iPad Pro features a quad-speaker strategy and 4 mics. If it’s thing for illustration its predecessor, that intends nan caller Pro models will sound overmuch amended than nan iPad Air and present louder, fuller sound. That, mixed pinch nan aforementioned OLED display, intends nan iPad Pro will probably stay nan champion tablet to watch movies on.

Last but not least, Apple has moved nan front-facing cameras connected some tablets to nan longer edge, which should let for much comfortable video calls erstwhile successful scenery mode. Both tablets besides athletics 12-megapixel f/1.8 cameras, but only nan iPad Pro features adaptive True Tone flash for removing shadows from scanned documents.

By nan numbers

Those are conscionable immoderate of nan astir notable differences betwixt nan forthcoming iPad Air and iPad Pro. If you want to dive into nan nitty-gritty details, nan array beneath highlights each nan applicable specs — including those for nan last-gen iPad Air and iPad Pro.

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