**The iPad Air vs iPad Pro: A Comprehensive Comparison**

When it comes to choosing between the iPad Air and the iPad Pro, many consumers are left wondering which one is the best value for their money. To help answer this question, let's take a closer look at the features and specifications of both devices.

**Upgrading from the iPad Air to the iPad Pro**

One common dilemma when considering an upgrade from the iPad Air to the iPad Pro is whether it's worth paying more for the higher-end device. The iPad Pro starts at $800, which is significantly more than the iPad Air, especially if you opt for the base model with 128GB of storage. However, the iPad Pro offers several upgrades over the iPad Air, including a faster A14 Bionic chip, improved cameras, and a 120Hz refresh rate display. The question remains: are these upgrades worth the extra cost?

**The 256GB Storage Conundrum**

For those who want more storage space on their device, the iPad Air's base model with 64GB of storage may seem woefully inadequate. However, when comparing it to the iPad Pro, which starts at 128GB, the gap between the two devices becomes more apparent. The iPad Pro's higher storage capacity, combined with its faster processor and improved cameras, make it a more attractive option for those who need more space for their files, photos, and other content.

**The Design: A Similar Story**

One area where both devices differ is in design. The iPad Air still retains the same circular home button as previous models, while the iPad Pro features a more modern design with a flat edge and no home button. While some may find the new design to be an improvement, others may prefer the familiarity of the old design.

**Display: A Tale of Two Displays**

The display on both devices is similar, with the exception that the iPad Pro features a 120Hz refresh rate, which provides smoother scrolling and a more responsive experience. The iPad Air also has a display, but it's not quite as fast or responsive as the one found on the iPad Pro.

**Face ID and Touch ID: A Missing Link**

One feature that sets the iPad Pro apart from the iPad Air is its inclusion of Face ID, which offers facial recognition for secure biometric authentication. The iPad Air, on the other hand, relies on Touch ID, which some may find to be less convenient or secure.

**USB-C vs Thunderbolt: Speed Matters**

When it comes to transferring files between devices, the iPad Pro's Thunderbolt port provides a significant speed boost over the iPad Air's USB-C port. This means that if you're transferring large amounts of data, the iPad Pro is the clear winner in terms of performance.

**Camera Capabilities: A Tale of Two Cameras**

The cameras on both devices are different, with the iPad Pro featuring two cameras and the iPad Air having only one. The additional camera on the iPad Pro allows for more advanced features, such as improved Portrait mode and depth control.

**Storage Expansion: A Limited Option**

One feature that's limited in the iPad Air is its storage capacity, which tops out at 256GB. While this may be sufficient for some users, others may find it to be too restrictive, especially if they need more space for their files and content.

**The A13 Chip: A Great Performer**

Despite its age, the A13 chip found in the base model iPad Air is still a great performer, offering fast performance and efficient power management. However, some users may find that it's starting to show its age compared to newer processors like the M1 chip found in later models.

**iPadOS: A Growing Family of Operating Systems**

When it comes to the operating system on both devices, iPadOS is the clear winner. With the latest version 15.4, iPadOS offers a more comprehensive set of features and capabilities than ever before, including Universal Control, which allows users to use their iPad as a connected monitor experience for their Mac.

**Waiting for the Next Generation: A Question Mark**

Finally, there's one question that all iPad users are left wondering: what's next? Will Apple release an updated version of the iPad Pro with new features and capabilities? Only time will tell. In the meantime, consumers are left to weigh their options between the iPad Air and the iPad Pro.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro have their strengths and weaknesses, making them appealing options for different types of users. While the iPad Air offers a more affordable price point and efficient performance, the iPad Pro provides faster processors, improved cameras, and a more modern design. Ultimately, the choice between the two devices comes down to your specific needs and budget.

**When is the iPad Air Available?**

The iPad Air will be available starting on March 18th, so mark those calendars if you're interested in picking up one of these devices.

**Leave Your Comments Below**

We'd love to hear from you - what do you think about the iPad Air vs iPad Pro? Do you have any questions or concerns about either device? Leave your comments below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enapple's got one new ipad the ipad air and it's been updated with some things that make it seem basically like an ipad pro is this the one to get well let's step back from the apple event and look at all the other ipads that apple has and figure out where the ipad is at 2022. well march 2022 i should say because there are gonna be more ipads coming at some point but apple did not update the ipad pro which has an m1 processor and a lot of other bells and whistles but the ipad air which looks a lot like the ipad pro and cost less got the m1 processor that's apple's chip that was on the macbook air and a lot of their other macs and it's a super fast chip that alone could make it really good for future proofing your ipad if you're interested in paying up from a budget model but keep in mind that ipad os is not as super versatile in the same way as a mac it's got its own tricks and interesting qualities and it keeps improving but it's not the same thing as a laptop so for me i feel like the software elements are the things that need the most improvement the performance on ipads has already been pretty great the m1 is the big thing that the ipad air got it also got 5g now that 5g is not millimeter wave it's sub 6 if you're looking for the nuances on that but it is a step up in terms of what the lte version had previously and it also has a new feature on the front-facing camera which is on all the other ipads called center stage which is an ultra wide camera and it digitally zooms in and follows you when you're making calls but it doesn't make your calls look centered if you are an ipad user like i am you use a zoom a lot and you're wondering oh why am i a little off angle when i make calls in landscape mode that's because the ipad has its camera off on the narrow edge where it should be i think is on the long edge like a laptop they haven't changed that if you haven't been following with the ipad air's been up to fall 2020 apple introduced a whole new look for which was like the ipad pro it has new smart connector design for attaching things like the magic keyboard and other accessories it worked with the second generation apple pencil snapping onto the top it has usbc which is great it also had less bezel on the sides although not completely no bezel and it moved the touch id button off to the power button on the side that's still really cool that's exactly the way it is on the new ipad air basically the design is the same the processor and the 5g part are the things that would merit the upgrade also keep in mind the storage equation hasn't changed 64 gigabytes for the base storage you can pay up for 256 gigabytes that's where the equation gets a little weird because apple loves to kind of incrementally guide you up the path from one product to another until you're all the way at the top and this is only by degrees different in price if you map out the storage 599 is the entry point for the ipad air but with only 64 gigabytes of storage that's not really enough for me to really live with especially on a high-end ipad which means i'm going to go up to the 256 version which is 750. now if you're paying 750 for the ipad air the 11 inch ipad pro starts at 800 that only has 128 gigabytes of storage then you're thinking maybe do i want to upgrade to the next version which has even more storage and so it goes but that's the thing if you're upgrading to the point where i think is the starting point at the ipad air realistically the 256 then you're kind of comparing against the 50 gap to the ipad pro which also drops down in storage a bit i still feel like the ipad air is the way to go for a lot of people but i really wish that it had bumped up to 128 gigabytes of storage on the base model which was a very good number to start with i feel like 64 is cutting it close and if you're paying 600 for an ipad you don't want to cut it close so that's my take on the ipad air ipad pro situation and it's also really hard to judge because the ipad pro feels it gets between versions and inevitably there will be a new version maybe that's coming this year and maybe you don't want to miss out on that as well also if you want to get 5g capabilities you also have to pay an extra 130 dollars on the ipad air that doesn't come built in the things that the ipad air doesn't have that the ipad pro still has there's actually a bunch the display pretty much the same although the ipad pro has promotion which is that faster refresh rate smoother scrolling and the 12 inch ipad pro also has mini led the equation hasn't changed on the display on the ipad air model there's no face id which you might like so it has touch id on the side actually i wish that touch id button made it over to other ipad models and iphones too there's also a difference in the speed and throughput on the usbc port this is usbc the iped pro is thunderbolt so it's actually faster for transferring large amounts of data and speaking of that same thing the ipad pro the storage models that are available go all the way up to two terabytes which is a lot and costs a heck of a lot but it's there whereas the ipad air caps at 256 gigabytes and it's really not easy to think about expanding the storage technically you could plug in something uh through usbc but it's really only for media it doesn't really work like that on ipads the cameras on the back are different so the ipad air has one camera the ipad pro has lidar plus two cameras that's a lot of the big differences that we're talking about here i still feel like the ipad air is the one that seems like it would make the most sense if you're saving money and doing that especially if i want to buy accessories it seems like it's got all the stuff that you need to basically future proof your ipad mainly the processor i still think the base model ipad with the a13 is perfectly great for tons of people i'm not wild that the design is exactly the same as it has always been down to the circular home button wish that would change but i think the ipad air is kind of the sweet spot that apple's been aiming for that being said what is the ipad pro going to bring when it's inevitably updated maybe apple's waiting for some sort of m2 chip later this year maybe they're going to be whole new features would it go oled display i think if you're really thinking about spending up for the best ipad you can get money not mattering you really want to wait and see if that's going to happen kind of being caught in the middle right here and again i really want to see where ipad os is going i'd love for it to be more like a mac or be more mac compatible there is some of that with ipad os 15.4 that's hitting that's going to allow universal control which is going to allow you to basically use your ipad as a connected monitor experience for your mac and you could actually have your cursor move across between devices which is pretty cool it's not the same thing as really feeling like the ipad is running mac experiences and now that they all are sharing the same chip i keep waiting for something like that to happen i'm sorry i do but six hundred dollars okay that's still a little bit expensive but it's getting more affordable than it was before to get that m1 chip i'll tell you more when i actually review it i'm scott stein at cnet with a quick take on what you should do about the ipad air which by the way is going to be available march 18th thanks for watching if you have any comments uh leave them down below and we'll respond thanksapple's got one new ipad the ipad air and it's been updated with some things that make it seem basically like an ipad pro is this the one to get well let's step back from the apple event and look at all the other ipads that apple has and figure out where the ipad is at 2022. well march 2022 i should say because there are gonna be more ipads coming at some point but apple did not update the ipad pro which has an m1 processor and a lot of other bells and whistles but the ipad air which looks a lot like the ipad pro and cost less got the m1 processor that's apple's chip that was on the macbook air and a lot of their other macs and it's a super fast chip that alone could make it really good for future proofing your ipad if you're interested in paying up from a budget model but keep in mind that ipad os is not as super versatile in the same way as a mac it's got its own tricks and interesting qualities and it keeps improving but it's not the same thing as a laptop so for me i feel like the software elements are the things that need the most improvement the performance on ipads has already been pretty great the m1 is the big thing that the ipad air got it also got 5g now that 5g is not millimeter wave it's sub 6 if you're looking for the nuances on that but it is a step up in terms of what the lte version had previously and it also has a new feature on the front-facing camera which is on all the other ipads called center stage which is an ultra wide camera and it digitally zooms in and follows you when you're making calls but it doesn't make your calls look centered if you are an ipad user like i am you use a zoom a lot and you're wondering oh why am i a little off angle when i make calls in landscape mode that's because the ipad has its camera off on the narrow edge where it should be i think is on the long edge like a laptop they haven't changed that if you haven't been following with the ipad air's been up to fall 2020 apple introduced a whole new look for which was like the ipad pro it has new smart connector design for attaching things like the magic keyboard and other accessories it worked with the second generation apple pencil snapping onto the top it has usbc which is great it also had less bezel on the sides although not completely no bezel and it moved the touch id button off to the power button on the side that's still really cool that's exactly the way it is on the new ipad air basically the design is the same the processor and the 5g part are the things that would merit the upgrade also keep in mind the storage equation hasn't changed 64 gigabytes for the base storage you can pay up for 256 gigabytes that's where the equation gets a little weird because apple loves to kind of incrementally guide you up the path from one product to another until you're all the way at the top and this is only by degrees different in price if you map out the storage 599 is the entry point for the ipad air but with only 64 gigabytes of storage that's not really enough for me to really live with especially on a high-end ipad which means i'm going to go up to the 256 version which is 750. now if you're paying 750 for the ipad air the 11 inch ipad pro starts at 800 that only has 128 gigabytes of storage then you're thinking maybe do i want to upgrade to the next version which has even more storage and so it goes but that's the thing if you're upgrading to the point where i think is the starting point at the ipad air realistically the 256 then you're kind of comparing against the 50 gap to the ipad pro which also drops down in storage a bit i still feel like the ipad air is the way to go for a lot of people but i really wish that it had bumped up to 128 gigabytes of storage on the base model which was a very good number to start with i feel like 64 is cutting it close and if you're paying 600 for an ipad you don't want to cut it close so that's my take on the ipad air ipad pro situation and it's also really hard to judge because the ipad pro feels it gets between versions and inevitably there will be a new version maybe that's coming this year and maybe you don't want to miss out on that as well also if you want to get 5g capabilities you also have to pay an extra 130 dollars on the ipad air that doesn't come built in the things that the ipad air doesn't have that the ipad pro still has there's actually a bunch the display pretty much the same although the ipad pro has promotion which is that faster refresh rate smoother scrolling and the 12 inch ipad pro also has mini led the equation hasn't changed on the display on the ipad air model there's no face id which you might like so it has touch id on the side actually i wish that touch id button made it over to other ipad models and iphones too there's also a difference in the speed and throughput on the usbc port this is usbc the iped pro is thunderbolt so it's actually faster for transferring large amounts of data and speaking of that same thing the ipad pro the storage models that are available go all the way up to two terabytes which is a lot and costs a heck of a lot but it's there whereas the ipad air caps at 256 gigabytes and it's really not easy to think about expanding the storage technically you could plug in something uh through usbc but it's really only for media it doesn't really work like that on ipads the cameras on the back are different so the ipad air has one camera the ipad pro has lidar plus two cameras that's a lot of the big differences that we're talking about here i still feel like the ipad air is the one that seems like it would make the most sense if you're saving money and doing that especially if i want to buy accessories it seems like it's got all the stuff that you need to basically future proof your ipad mainly the processor i still think the base model ipad with the a13 is perfectly great for tons of people i'm not wild that the design is exactly the same as it has always been down to the circular home button wish that would change but i think the ipad air is kind of the sweet spot that apple's been aiming for that being said what is the ipad pro going to bring when it's inevitably updated maybe apple's waiting for some sort of m2 chip later this year maybe they're going to be whole new features would it go oled display i think if you're really thinking about spending up for the best ipad you can get money not mattering you really want to wait and see if that's going to happen kind of being caught in the middle right here and again i really want to see where ipad os is going i'd love for it to be more like a mac or be more mac compatible there is some of that with ipad os 15.4 that's hitting that's going to allow universal control which is going to allow you to basically use your ipad as a connected monitor experience for your mac and you could actually have your cursor move across between devices which is pretty cool it's not the same thing as really feeling like the ipad is running mac experiences and now that they all are sharing the same chip i keep waiting for something like that to happen i'm sorry i do but six hundred dollars okay that's still a little bit expensive but it's getting more affordable than it was before to get that m1 chip i'll tell you more when i actually review it i'm scott stein at cnet with a quick take on what you should do about the ipad air which by the way is going to be available march 18th thanks for watching if you have any comments uh leave them down below and we'll respond thanks\n"