iPad Professional vs iPad Air: What do you get or quit?

The 2022 iPad Air has the vast majority of options discovered within the 2021 iPad Professional like an M1 chip, extremely large entrance digital camera with Heart Stage, 5G connectivity, and extra. Nevertheless, the 2022 M2 iPad Professional brings probably the most superior options and best efficiency in an iPad – however is it overkill? Observe alongside for a breakdown of all of the similarities and variations between the 11″ M2 iPad Professional vs iPad Air that will help you determine which is one of the best choose.

The 2022 Fifth-gen iPad Air blurred the road between the mid and high-end iPads, giving many individuals the inducement to go along with the Air that begins at $200 (or extra) under the $799 11-inch iPad Professional. 

Then the iPad 10 arrived final fall which blurs the road even additional because it takes most of the common iPad Air options and places them into the $449 entry-level pill.

If you need a 12.9-inch iPad, the iPad Professional is your solely selection. However now you’ve obtained the choice to get the most recent with an M2 chip or avoid wasting cash with the earlier M1 iPad Professional.

However relating to the 11″ you’ve obtained a number of decisions with the M2 and M1 iPad Professional vs iPad Air. For all of the comparability charts under, the 11″ M2 iPad Professional is on the left, 11″ M1 iPad Professional is within the center, and M1 iPad Air is on the best.

11″ M2 iPad Professional vs iPad Air

Efficiency

The primary efficiency distinction is the improve from an M1 to M2 chip for the brand new iPad Professional.

That delivers as much as an 18% quicker CPU, 35% quicker GPU (10-core vs 8-core), and a 2x increase in reminiscence bandwidth from 50GB/s to 100GB/s.

However three different benefits the iPad Professional holds over the iPad Air – on this class – are Thunderbolt help, 16GB RAM on the 1TB and 2TB fashions, and extra storage choices.

Word: 128, 256 and 512GB fashions have 8GB RAM, 1TB and 2TB fashions have 16GB RAM.

Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of customers will probably discover the iPad Air with an M1 and 8GB RAM to be greater than highly effective sufficient for years to come back.

Thunderbolt and 16GB RAM with the iPad Professional will probably solely be tempting for professionals or those that aren’t price-sensitive.

Show

With the iPad Air display screen, you’re getting a ten.9-inch Liquid Retina show with True Tone and P3 large coloration. It’s virtually precisely the identical Liquid Retina show because the 11-inch iPad Professional (okay, technically 0.1″ smaller 😅). Each shows are absolutely laminated and have Apple’s anti-reflective coating.

The most important variations are you solely get ProMotion (as much as 120Hz refresh charges) with the iPad Professional show and also you solely get Apple Pencil Hover with the M2 iPad Professional.

In the meantime, HDR brightness as much as 1600 nits is just obtainable on the 12.9-inch iPad Professional, not the 11-inch Professional or 10.9-inch iPad Air.

Connectivity and equipment

iPad Air works with all the identical nice Apple equipment because the iPad Professional. That features the second-generation Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard, and Sensible Keyboard Folio.

iPad Air makes use of Contact ID versus the iPad Professional coming with Face ID.

Two different small upgrades with the M2 iPad Professional are Bluetooth 5.3 and WiFi 6E help.

Just like the iPhone SE 3, the iPad Air doesn’t get mmWave 5G help with its mobile fashions. However as mmWave is the rarest model of 5G protection to seek out, that’s most likely not a difficulty for most individuals.

Splash of coloration

If the colour of your subsequent iPad is a crucial piece, you’ve obtained 5 choices with the iPad Air. It is available in area grey, starlight, pink, purple, and blue.

The iPad Professional solely is available in area grey and silver.

iPad Professional vs iPad Air battery life

The M2/M1 iPad Professional and iPad Air all have the identical battery life:

• 10 hours of internet or video use on WiFi
• 9 hours of internet use with mobile

Storage and worth

Right here’s a breakdown of the worth variations (MSRP) between these tablets. It’s not precisely apples to apples since iPad Professional and Air have totally different storage choices, however you may avoid wasting vital money with the iPad Air (additionally due to iPad Air being discounted typically).

Cameras

You get a stable rear single digital camera with the iPad Air that features the identical 12MP large lens that’s discovered on the iPad Professional. It shoots 4K video on the similar fps because the Professional too.

Nevertheless, with the iPad Professional, you’ve additionally obtained a 10MP extremely large lens plus the LiDAR Scanner, and the True Tone flash.

The iPad Air comes with the identical extremely large 12MP lens with Heart Stage help because the iPad Professional.

The primary distinction is the M2 iPad Professional’s capability to shoot ProRes 4K video at as much as 30 fps.

A few smaller variations – the iPad Professional entrance digital camera options help for Portrait mode, Portrait Lighting, and Animoji/Memoji whereas the iPad Air entrance digital camera doesn’t.

And relating to audio system, you’re getting four-speaker audio with the iPad Professional whereas the iPad Air has a two-speaker system.

M2 iPad Professional vs iPad Air conclusion

Why purchase iPad Professional?

If you’ll usually be pushing your pill to the restrict, the iPad Professional delivers the top-performing bundle with as much as 16GB RAM and 2TB storage, 120Hz ProMotion show, Thunderbolt help, and the flexibility to seize ProRes 4K video, all powered by the brand new M2 chip.

The M2 iPad Professional is offered at Apple, Amazon, Greatest Purchase, BH Photograph, and extra.

Why purchase iPad Air?

When contemplating all of the similarities, the iPad Air is probably going going to be the only option for most individuals. It’s obtained a worth of round $200 much less than the iPad Professional whereas together with many of the premium iPad Professional options.

Learn extra 9to5Mac in-depth comparisons: