With the introduction of the 13-inch iPad Air, there’s now a super-sized pill to rival the iPad Professional. This is what’s completely different about Apple’s greatest iPads.
Apple’s first main replace to its iPad lineup in over a yr introduced with it some huge modifications. For a begin, the iPad Pro benefited from new shows, an up to date styling, and M4 efficiency.
In the meantime, the iPad Air had its personal incremental spec bump replace, with a twist. Not solely did it shift from M1 to M2, however Apple additionally introduced out the 13-inch iPad Air alongside the prevailing 11-inch mannequin.
Now, customers who wish to use a big pill have two worth and specification lists to select from.
Whereas the 13-inch iPad Professional and 13-inch iPad Air have the identical display screen property, there’s extra to think about than simply measurement alone.
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – Specs
Specs | 13-inch iPad Professional | 13-inch iPad Air |
---|---|---|
Display measurement (inches) | 13 | 13 |
Base worth | $1,299 | $799 |
Processor | M4 | M2 |
Decision | 2,752 x 2,064 | 2,732 x 2,048 |
Pixel Density (dpi) | 264 | 264 |
Brightness (nits) | 1,000 (SDR), 1,000 (XDR full-screen), 1,600 (peak brightness HDR) |
600 |
Show kind | Extremely Retina XDR, Tandem OLED, ProMotion, True Tone, Vast shade (P3), Totally Laminated, Nano-texture show glass (1TB, 2TB) |
Liquid Retina, True Tone, Vast shade (P3), Totally Laminated, |
Apple Pencil | Apple Pencil Professional, Apple Pencil USB-C |
Apple Pencil Professional, Apple Pencil USB-C |
Sensible Connector | Sure | Sure |
Dimensions (inches) | 11.09 x 8.48 x 0.20 | 11.04 x 8.46 x 0.24 |
Weight (lbs) | 1.28 | 1.5 |
Capacities | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
Rear digicam (MP) | 12 large, LiDAR | 12 large, |
Entrance digicam (MP) | 12MP TrueDepth Panorama | 12MP Extremely Vast Panorama |
Video recording | 4K at 24/30/60fps (large) and 60fps (extremely large), ProRes as much as 4K 30fps (1080p30 on 256GB) |
4K at 24/30/60fps |
Biometric | Face ID | Contact ID |
Audio system | 4 | 2 |
Port | Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 | USB-C |
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – Bodily Look
The iPad Air borrows loads from the design aesthetic of the earlier iPad Professional era. A slab of aluminum and glass with flat edges and an edge-to-edge show, it actually seems like a typical iPad Professional to observers.
The 2024 iPad Professional, in the meantime, has been given a little bit of a redesign. Whereas the identical core design aesthetics are in place, Apple’s labored to make it a bit thinner and lighter than earlier than.
When it comes to measurement, the 13-inch iPad Air is 11.04 by 8.46 inches and is 0.24 inches thick. The iPad Professional has a barely bigger footprint at 11.09 by 8.48 inches, nevertheless it’s thinner at 0.20 inches.
The iPad Professional’s slimming has additionally contributed to its weight reduction, too. At 1.28 kilos, it is lighter than the 1.5-pound iPad Air.
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – Shows
The 13-inch iPad Air makes use of a Liquid Retina show, similar to the earlier era. It is an LED-backlit display screen with True Tone and Vast Coloration (P3) assist.
OLED made its debut on Apple tablets within the 13-inch iPad Professional. The Extremely Retina XDR within the new 13-inch iPad Professional show makes use of Tandem OLED, which makes use of two OLED layers as a substitute of 1 for prime ranges of brightness and an unlimited dynamic vary.
For brightness, Apple experiences the 13-inch iPad Air as able to 600 nits. The iPad Professional’s newer tech means it may go as much as 100 nits for full-screen brightness, and 1,600 nits at peak for HDR content material.
The higher iPad Professional show additionally has significantly increased distinction ranges at 2,000,000:1. Whereas Apple hasn’t mentioned what the iPad Air is able to, the show expertise is unlikely to match what the iPad Professional is utilizing.
Together with True Tone and Vast Coloration (P3) assist, the iPad Professional’s display screen additionally advantages from ProMotion. Apple’s adaptive variable refresh fee expertise can go from 10hz to 120Hz.
This could give iPad Professional customers a smoother scrolling and drawing expertise in comparison with the iPad Air.
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – Efficiency
The iPad Air graduated to M2 on this new era. A reasonably identified amount, it was the chip the iPad Professional used to have.
It makes use of eight CPU cores, mixing 4 efficiency cores with 4 effectivity cores, with a ten-core GPU. It additionally has a 16-core Neural Engine, in addition to the Media Engine for hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding.
Reminiscence-wise, it has 8GB, with 100GB/s of reminiscence bandwidth.
The iPad Professional, in the meantime, has skipped a era and moved on to the M4. Of which, Apple has two variants it provides within the iPad Professional.
The primary model has a nine-core CPU, with three efficiency cores and 6 effectivity cores, which is bought with the 256GB and 512GB capacities. The 1TB and 2TB fashions get a ten-core CPU, with 4 efficiency and 6 effectivity cores.
Each chip variants have a 10-core GPU, full with hardware-accelerated ray tracing. There’s additionally the Media Engine with AV1 decoding assist, and an upgraded Neural Engine.
Reminiscence consists of 8GB on the gigabyte-class fashions, 16GB for terabyte variations. Reminiscence bandwidth is up over the M2, hitting 120GB/s.
Based on Apple’s promotional materials, the M4 is allegedly capable of render 4 instances sooner than the M2, with 1.5 instances the CPU efficiency. The Neural Engine’s increase goes from 15.8 trillion operations per second within the M2 to 38 trillion within the M4.
For a direct comparability, we will put the M2 within the iPad Professional in opposition to the alleged benchmarks for a 10-core M4 iPad that surfaced shortly after the announcement as a suggestion.
Based on Geekbench, the M2 within the 12.9-inch iPad Pro which we’re utilizing as a stand-in for the brand new iPad Air right here scores 2,540 for single-core outcomes, and 9,630 for multi-core. The preliminary benchmark for 10-core M4 iPad Professional claims it to hit 3,767 for single-core, 14,677 for multi-core.
This equates to a 48% CPU enchancment for single-core processing, and 52% for multi-core. That is extraordinarily near Apple’s claimed 1.5-times enchancment.
We anticipated that the M4 could be higher performing simply from the two-generation chip bounce. If Apple’s claims are to be believed and may be additional verified, the chip change might be huge for energy customers, and for Apple’s future AI options.
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – Cameras and Audio
On the again, each the iPad Professional and iPad Air have just about an identical digicam setups. Each use a 12-megapixel Vast digicam, full with an f/1.8 aperture and a 5x digital zoom.
The iPad Air simply has a raised digicam, whereas the iPad Professional has a full bump. That is as a result of there’s different stuff hooked up to the again.
The additional objects the iPad Professional has embody the LIDAR sensor for depth-sensing, which helps with focusing in images and different purposes. Apple additionally contains an Adaptive True Tone flash, which is not included within the Air.
Each are able to recording 4K video at as much as 60fps, in addition to 1080p 240fps slo-mo, and utilizing a 3x digital zoom for video, 5x for stills.
The iPad Professional goes one stage additional by including ProRes video as much as 4K 30fps, 1080p 30fps for the 256GB mannequin. This raises to 4K 60fps when recording to an exterior drive.
The entrance digicam is a Panorama Extremely Vast model for each, able to 10MP photographs. Having an f/2.4 aperture with a 2x zoom out, Heart Stage, and Retina Flash with True Tone, they’re pretty comparable.
Nonetheless, the iPad Professional’s model is a TrueDepth digicam, so it has facial recognition and depth mapping, permitting it to work with Face ID. The iPad Air lacks Face ID, as a substitute counting on a button-mounted Touch ID sensor.
For audio, the iPad Professional has its four-speaker audio system, whereas the iPad Air has panorama stereo audio system. At the very least the 13-inch has twice the bass of the 11-inch model.
Microphone counts lean in direction of the iPad Professional equally, with 4 studio-quality mics versus two.
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – Connectivity and Battery
On the bodily connectivity facet, each iPad Professional and iPad Air have a rear Sensible Connector, which can be utilized with equipment just like the Magic Keyboard.
On the base is a USB-C port on the iPad Air, however the iPad Professional sports activities a Thunderbolt / USB 4 connection as a substitute. This does imply there’s much more potential knowledge throughput via the iPad Professional’s connection at 40Gb/s vs 10Gb/s, which can assist in some purposes.
For wi-fi connectivity, there’s Wi-Fi 6E assist on each fashions, in addition to Bluetooth 5.3. Mobile connectivity extends to sub-6GHz 5G sign, with neither working with mmWave.
There’s a mobile change that impacts each fashions versus the earlier generations. The sooner variations supported each bodily Nano-SIM playing cards and eSIMs, however these now solely take care of eSIM.
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – Capability and Pricing
Provided in Silver or House Black, the 13-inch iPad Professional begins from $1,299 for the 256GB capability. The 512GB mannequin prices $1,499, the 1TB is $1,899, and the 2TB is $2,299.
Including the Nano-texture glass to the 1TB or 2TB fashions is an additional $100 on high, with mobile one other $200. The most costly configuration prices $2,599.
The iPad Air may be purchased in 4 colorways: House Grey, Blue, Purple, or Starlight. It begins from $799 for the 128GB mannequin, rising to $899 for 256GB, $1,099 for 512GB, and $1,299 for 1TB.
Whereas there isn’t a Nano-texture glass possibility, you’ll be able to nonetheless pay $150 for mobile, $50 cheaper than the iPad Professional’s add-on.
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – Which to purchase?
Clearly, there are two discrete tiers of iPad fashions being in contrast right here. There are various variations, and the overwhelming majority of them profit the iPad Professional greater than the iPad Air.
The iPad Professional goes to have higher show expertise, higher audio, and higher efficiency. However on the similar time, you are going to must pay for it.
That worth distinction varies while you evaluate comparable capacities. For the 256GB and 512GB variants, you are paying $400 extra for the iPad Professional than the iPad Air.
At 1TB, the hole in worth widens to $600. And that is earlier than you contemplate the additional $50 worth disparity of the mobile fashions, or the additional $100 of Nano-texture glass for a few of the iPad Professional fashions.
Essentially, each iPad fashions are nice iterations of the shape on paper. Both will be capable of deal with the desires and desires of the common consumer for fairly just a few years.
You could possibly say that spending $400 to $750 extra for the iPad Professional is the higher alternative than the comparative iPad Air. Nonetheless, you continue to must justify it by needing that degree of efficiency or a significantly higher show.
However on the similar time, that worth disparity can get you extra storage or mobile on an iPad Air versus a Wi-Fi iPad Professional. Or possibly an adjunct or two just like the Apple Pencil Professional (discounted with promo code APINSIDER at Adorama).
The iPad Professional stays one of the best of one of the best in the marketplace, actually. The iPad Air exists for individuals who can accept a reasonably good pill, whereas additionally having fun with saving a bit of money.
13-inch iPad Professional vs 13-inch iPad Air – The place to purchase
The very best costs on Apple’s 2024 iPads may be present in our iPad Price Guide, with unique offers on the newest fashions.
At press time, the iPad Air 6 and M4 iPad Professional are eligible for exclusive coupon savings with promo code APINSIDER at Adorama. The tablets are as much as $100 off, with bonus financial savings on AppleCare, bringing the whole reductions to as much as $130 off. Equipment are discounted too with the promo code, together with the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Professional.
You too can discover the highest offers of the day in our iPad Deals Roundup, which covers one of the best provides throughout all the iPad vary.