**The Ultimate iPad Air vs iPad Pro Comparison: Which One Should You Choose?**

When it comes to choosing between an iPad Air and an iPad Pro, there are several factors to consider. In this article, we'll delve into the details of each device, exploring their features, performance, and design.

**Display Quality**

One of the standout features of the iPad Pro is its display quality. The iPad Pro boasts a higher pixel density, with a 120Hz refresh rate, making it ideal for watching videos or browsing the web. In contrast, the iPad Air has a lower pixel density and a 60Hz refresh rate. However, both devices are still impressive displays that will satisfy your visual needs.

**Speaker Situation**

The speaker situation on the iPad is actually a big deal in this comparison. The iPad Air has four speaker grilles or cutouts, but only two actual speakers drivers. On the other hand, the iPad Pro comes with four actual driver speakers, configured as a stereo pair, which produces a richer, fuller, and more dynamic sound output. If you plan on watching a lot of Netflix or YouTube, listening to music without external speakers or headphones, or even podcasting in a pinch, the iPad Pro is where you should be.

**Ports**

The iPad Air has a nice USB-C port, but the iPad Pro just got support for USB4 and Thunderbolt. While both ports look the same, the Thunderbolt port on the iPad Pro offers much faster transfer speeds if you plan on using external storage or hooking up an external monitor. Although there aren't many use cases for external display support yet, it's nice to have the option.

**Wi-Fi and Cellular**

When it comes to Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, both devices are equipped with 6th generation Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity on the iPad Pro, which is a big plus if you want to stay connected on the go. However, the iPad Air is stuck on 4G, but 4G has a much more robust network built out in the US.

**Accessories**

Both devices come with Apple's Magic Keyboard and the latest generation of Apple Pencil, making them compatible with each other. If you're looking for great iPad accessories, there are plenty of options available, so this isn't a deciding factor between the two devices.

**Decision Time**

So, which one should you choose? The answer ultimately depends on your priorities. If you care about having a faster iPad that will feel more premium, with better display quality and sound, and want the latest features like 5G and Thunderbolt connectivity, then the iPad Pro is the way to go.

If none of those things matter to you or you can live without them, or if you're on a budget, the iPad Air is still an incredible device that will get the job done. With its brighter display, better speaker quality, and lower price point, the iPad Air is ideal for those who want a great overall tablet experience without breaking the bank.

Ultimately, both devices are incredibly capable and will allow you to do some amazing work on the go. It's just that the iPad Pro offers a richer, more dynamic experience that will last longer before you feel compelled to upgrade.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey it's chris today i'm gonna help you compare the fourth generation ipad air and the brand new 11 inch 2021 ipad pro why these two ipads in particular well it's actually a very natural comparison because if you want something that's better than an entry-level ipad but at the same time you don't want to max out and get the biggest best ipad that you possibly could buy or if you just don't like a bigger ipad screen for whatever reason then you're steering the ipad air and the 11 inch ipad pro squarely in the eyes the 4th gen ipad air starts at 599 the 11 inch ipad pro starts at 799 so what do you get for that 200 difference well at the end of this video i'm gonna make it as easy as humanly possible for you to make your buying decision with about a 15 second answer but let me just kick things off by saying this in all the different ways and categories that we're about to compare these two devices the ipad air is always going to be good enough there isn't a type of work or output that you're going to be able to generate on the ipad pro that you can't with the ipad air but depending on what you do maybe good enough isn't actually good enough so should you spend that extra 200 well let's get into it let's start out by talking about performance processors speed what we're really talking about here is the iphone 12 processor versus the 13-inch macbook pros processor wait what i thought we were talking about ipads here has chris lost it nope because the 4th gen ipad air runs on the same a14 chip as the iphone 12. while the new ipad pro runs on the same m1 chip that powers the latest 13 inch macbook pro and i actually think that's an interesting way to think about this to frame it i think it brings a little extra perspective into this comparison now in terms of work in terms of output and production there's nothing you can't accomplish with an a14 chip that you magically can with an m1 that said faster is faster popular ipad app procreate's website says that their app is going to run four times faster on the new m1 chip so do you feel the need for speed graphic designers working with a lot of layers might video editors working with a lot of 4k 60 content might photographers working with enormous photo files might the majority of people though will probably only benefit from the m1 processor in terms of future overhead you know like if you're planning on holding onto this ipad purchase for dear life and you want it to feel faster farther into the future and hey this is a great time to remind you that if you're liking the vibe of this video so far this is a great time to subscribe now i've already unboxed and reviewed the green 4th gen ipad air but in the very near future i'll be unboxing and reviewing the new ipad pro so if that's something you don't want to miss get yourself subscribed all right the display is really the next thing that we need to touch on here because it's easy to look at the specs and think both of these have the same 264 ppi lcd with true tone with a wide color gamut and call it a day but the truth is these screens offer very different experiences even though the 11 inch ipad pro does miss out on the 12.9 inch ipad pro's drool inducing mini led tech even so the 11 inch ipad pro's screen is brighter than the airs by 100 nits nothing to sneeze at but the biggest difference between these two displays really comes from the 120 hertz refresh rate which means if you plan on making good use of an apple pencil or if you plan on doing some serious ipad gaming then you really might actually care about pro motion and if you do really care about the apple pencil experience you want it to be as natural as possible you might want to consider picking up a paper-like screen protector for some added texture subscribers know i always install a paper like when i get my hands on a brand new ipad all right let's talk about cameras the ipad pro does have better rear cameras versus the ipad air but i'm not even gonna mention the specs the pro is gonna be able to take better photos for whatever that's worth but the camera comparison that really matters here is the front facing selfie cam which is so much better on the ipad pro see the ipad air features a relatively wimpy 7 megapixel front camera but the pros got a 12 megapixel camera with a much much wider field of view and not only that but the pro has an awesome new feature called center stage which pans and zooms to keep you in the picture when you move around on facetime and zoom calls so if you want to look better for your remote meetings or for school or just for those family calls then that's going to be a big bonus alright well how about storage and memory how much do you really need the ipad pro can be upgraded up to 2 terabytes of storage along with 16 gigs of ram while the ipad air can get up to 256 gigs with a lot less ram but honestly 2 terabytes and 16 gigs of ram is far beyond what most people would ever even dream of using the real story here is how much storage you can get not on the top end but on the base configuration between the air and the pro with the pro you get double the starting storage with 128 gigs versus only 64 gigs on the entry level air which is pretty significant and this brings us to design and colors now i haven't really addressed it yet in this video but the size and weight of these two devices are really really close they both essentially offer an 11 inch screen experience there's only .1 inches worth of a difference so it's not even hardly worth talking about in fact they're so similar that aside from the camera cutouts most cases are interchangeable what is very different here though are the color options if you want a pro but you want something a little more exciting than just silver or gray you're going to be stuck with getting a skin or a case that can add a little bit of color because the pro doesn't come in nearly the array of colors that the air does that said how much do the colors really matter in the end if you're gonna end up slapping a case on your ipad either for the convenience of a keyboard or for protection probably not so much now what about authentication when you need to pay for something on your device or just unlock your device the ipad air uses touch id and it reads your fingerprint with a built-in sensor on the top button while the ipad pro uses face id for authentication personally my favorite between the two is face id but you know what there's a lot of people out there who really love touch id and they wish it would be in every apple device it doesn't really matter but if you do have a strong preference then that might be worth considering when you're making this purchase because you're probably going to end up unlocking this device several times throughout the day if you're a heavy user the last thing to say about this is that apple claims that the odds of spoofing face id are something like one in a million versus just one in 50 000 or so for touch id let's take a minute to just briefly mention the speaker situation because it's actually kind of a big deal in this comparison the ipad air sort of pretends to have nicer sound than it really produces and what i mean by that is that there are four speaker grilles or speaker cutouts on the ipad air but there's really only two speaker drivers the pro on the other hand does have four actual drivers and they're configured as a stereo pair which produces a richer fuller more dynamic and overall more satisfying output so practically speaking if you're going to watch a lot of netflix or youtube or listen to some music without external speakers or without headphones or airpods you might actually care also if you want to sound better on your zoom calls or maybe you want to podcast in a pinch and don't have an external microphone to plug in in either case the pro is where you should be let's talk about ports the ipad air has a nice usbc port now but the ipad pro just got support for usb4 and thunderbolt now these ports look the same so what's the difference well let's put it like this if you're gonna skimp on internal storage and you're gonna be planning on using external storage that thunderbolt port is gonna do way faster transfer speeds if you're moving a lot of files around that's a big benefit also if you plan on hooking up an external monitor which there aren't a ton of use cases for right now because most apps end up just mirroring what's on the ipad on an external display but you never know what's gonna happen at wwdc one of these days i do expect apple to roll out some better or real external display support but if you do care about external display support now or in the future then you're probably going to end up valuing that thunderbolt more than a usbc when it comes to wi-fi and cellular the situation is pretty similar on both of these get wi-fi six and memo in other words it's really nice nice and fast gonna be great around the house where things differ is when it comes to 5g and 4g the air is stuck on 4g but 4g has a much more robust network built out here in the us if you switch to 5g yes those speeds can be blazing fast if you find yourself in the right spot both of these ipads are going to work with apple's magic keyboard which i've said many times is my favorite typing experience on an ipad hands down and both ipads are gonna work with the latest greatest apple pencil too so really the accessory situation is roughly the same for each of these and if you're looking for some great ipad accessories i have covered a ton here on this channel before so you can just search daily tech daily tekk ipad accessories and you're welcome okay decision time let me try to make this as easy as humanly possible if you care about your ipad feeling faster for longer into the future if looking good on zoom calls and face time is a priority if you want a brighter display and or a better apple pencil or gaming experience if you want either more overall storage or more base storage if you need or want 5g thunderbolt connectivity better speakers and mics or face id then go with the ipad pro and if those things don't matter or you can live without them or if you want a more colorful ipad then get the air going with either of these ipads you're going to be able to do some incredible work and when you're done you'll be able to enjoy some great relaxing netflix gaming or whatever your leisure activity is on the side functionally you can do all the same work on the air that you can on the pro it's just that the pro offers a richer fuller brighter more capable and honestly probably more enjoyable tablet experience at the end of the day that and it is just gonna last you longer before you feel compelled to upgrade all right that's it for this video if you liked it let me know if it was helpful i appreciate the feedback either way if it was helpful or wasn't just drop me a comment and let me know and don't forget to hit subscribe if you like this video because my upcoming ipad pro unboxing and review and comparisons and tips all those videos are going to be rolling out soon so get yourself subscribed and i'll catch you guys in the next video laterhey it's chris today i'm gonna help you compare the fourth generation ipad air and the brand new 11 inch 2021 ipad pro why these two ipads in particular well it's actually a very natural comparison because if you want something that's better than an entry-level ipad but at the same time you don't want to max out and get the biggest best ipad that you possibly could buy or if you just don't like a bigger ipad screen for whatever reason then you're steering the ipad air and the 11 inch ipad pro squarely in the eyes the 4th gen ipad air starts at 599 the 11 inch ipad pro starts at 799 so what do you get for that 200 difference well at the end of this video i'm gonna make it as easy as humanly possible for you to make your buying decision with about a 15 second answer but let me just kick things off by saying this in all the different ways and categories that we're about to compare these two devices the ipad air is always going to be good enough there isn't a type of work or output that you're going to be able to generate on the ipad pro that you can't with the ipad air but depending on what you do maybe good enough isn't actually good enough so should you spend that extra 200 well let's get into it let's start out by talking about performance processors speed what we're really talking about here is the iphone 12 processor versus the 13-inch macbook pros processor wait what i thought we were talking about ipads here has chris lost it nope because the 4th gen ipad air runs on the same a14 chip as the iphone 12. while the new ipad pro runs on the same m1 chip that powers the latest 13 inch macbook pro and i actually think that's an interesting way to think about this to frame it i think it brings a little extra perspective into this comparison now in terms of work in terms of output and production there's nothing you can't accomplish with an a14 chip that you magically can with an m1 that said faster is faster popular ipad app procreate's website says that their app is going to run four times faster on the new m1 chip so do you feel the need for speed graphic designers working with a lot of layers might video editors working with a lot of 4k 60 content might photographers working with enormous photo files might the majority of people though will probably only benefit from the m1 processor in terms of future overhead you know like if you're planning on holding onto this ipad purchase for dear life and you want it to feel faster farther into the future and hey this is a great time to remind you that if you're liking the vibe of this video so far this is a great time to subscribe now i've already unboxed and reviewed the green 4th gen ipad air but in the very near future i'll be unboxing and reviewing the new ipad pro so if that's something you don't want to miss get yourself subscribed all right the display is really the next thing that we need to touch on here because it's easy to look at the specs and think both of these have the same 264 ppi lcd with true tone with a wide color gamut and call it a day but the truth is these screens offer very different experiences even though the 11 inch ipad pro does miss out on the 12.9 inch ipad pro's drool inducing mini led tech even so the 11 inch ipad pro's screen is brighter than the airs by 100 nits nothing to sneeze at but the biggest difference between these two displays really comes from the 120 hertz refresh rate which means if you plan on making good use of an apple pencil or if you plan on doing some serious ipad gaming then you really might actually care about pro motion and if you do really care about the apple pencil experience you want it to be as natural as possible you might want to consider picking up a paper-like screen protector for some added texture subscribers know i always install a paper like when i get my hands on a brand new ipad all right let's talk about cameras the ipad pro does have better rear cameras versus the ipad air but i'm not even gonna mention the specs the pro is gonna be able to take better photos for whatever that's worth but the camera comparison that really matters here is the front facing selfie cam which is so much better on the ipad pro see the ipad air features a relatively wimpy 7 megapixel front camera but the pros got a 12 megapixel camera with a much much wider field of view and not only that but the pro has an awesome new feature called center stage which pans and zooms to keep you in the picture when you move around on facetime and zoom calls so if you want to look better for your remote meetings or for school or just for those family calls then that's going to be a big bonus alright well how about storage and memory how much do you really need the ipad pro can be upgraded up to 2 terabytes of storage along with 16 gigs of ram while the ipad air can get up to 256 gigs with a lot less ram but honestly 2 terabytes and 16 gigs of ram is far beyond what most people would ever even dream of using the real story here is how much storage you can get not on the top end but on the base configuration between the air and the pro with the pro you get double the starting storage with 128 gigs versus only 64 gigs on the entry level air which is pretty significant and this brings us to design and colors now i haven't really addressed it yet in this video but the size and weight of these two devices are really really close they both essentially offer an 11 inch screen experience there's only .1 inches worth of a difference so it's not even hardly worth talking about in fact they're so similar that aside from the camera cutouts most cases are interchangeable what is very different here though are the color options if you want a pro but you want something a little more exciting than just silver or gray you're going to be stuck with getting a skin or a case that can add a little bit of color because the pro doesn't come in nearly the array of colors that the air does that said how much do the colors really matter in the end if you're gonna end up slapping a case on your ipad either for the convenience of a keyboard or for protection probably not so much now what about authentication when you need to pay for something on your device or just unlock your device the ipad air uses touch id and it reads your fingerprint with a built-in sensor on the top button while the ipad pro uses face id for authentication personally my favorite between the two is face id but you know what there's a lot of people out there who really love touch id and they wish it would be in every apple device it doesn't really matter but if you do have a strong preference then that might be worth considering when you're making this purchase because you're probably going to end up unlocking this device several times throughout the day if you're a heavy user the last thing to say about this is that apple claims that the odds of spoofing face id are something like one in a million versus just one in 50 000 or so for touch id let's take a minute to just briefly mention the speaker situation because it's actually kind of a big deal in this comparison the ipad air sort of pretends to have nicer sound than it really produces and what i mean by that is that there are four speaker grilles or speaker cutouts on the ipad air but there's really only two speaker drivers the pro on the other hand does have four actual drivers and they're configured as a stereo pair which produces a richer fuller more dynamic and overall more satisfying output so practically speaking if you're going to watch a lot of netflix or youtube or listen to some music without external speakers or without headphones or airpods you might actually care also if you want to sound better on your zoom calls or maybe you want to podcast in a pinch and don't have an external microphone to plug in in either case the pro is where you should be let's talk about ports the ipad air has a nice usbc port now but the ipad pro just got support for usb4 and thunderbolt now these ports look the same so what's the difference well let's put it like this if you're gonna skimp on internal storage and you're gonna be planning on using external storage that thunderbolt port is gonna do way faster transfer speeds if you're moving a lot of files around that's a big benefit also if you plan on hooking up an external monitor which there aren't a ton of use cases for right now because most apps end up just mirroring what's on the ipad on an external display but you never know what's gonna happen at wwdc one of these days i do expect apple to roll out some better or real external display support but if you do care about external display support now or in the future then you're probably going to end up valuing that thunderbolt more than a usbc when it comes to wi-fi and cellular the situation is pretty similar on both of these get wi-fi six and memo in other words it's really nice nice and fast gonna be great around the house where things differ is when it comes to 5g and 4g the air is stuck on 4g but 4g has a much more robust network built out here in the us if you switch to 5g yes those speeds can be blazing fast if you find yourself in the right spot both of these ipads are going to work with apple's magic keyboard which i've said many times is my favorite typing experience on an ipad hands down and both ipads are gonna work with the latest greatest apple pencil too so really the accessory situation is roughly the same for each of these and if you're looking for some great ipad accessories i have covered a ton here on this channel before so you can just search daily tech daily tekk ipad accessories and you're welcome okay decision time let me try to make this as easy as humanly possible if you care about your ipad feeling faster for longer into the future if looking good on zoom calls and face time is a priority if you want a brighter display and or a better apple pencil or gaming experience if you want either more overall storage or more base storage if you need or want 5g thunderbolt connectivity better speakers and mics or face id then go with the ipad pro and if those things don't matter or you can live without them or if you want a more colorful ipad then get the air going with either of these ipads you're going to be able to do some incredible work and when you're done you'll be able to enjoy some great relaxing netflix gaming or whatever your leisure activity is on the side functionally you can do all the same work on the air that you can on the pro it's just that the pro offers a richer fuller brighter more capable and honestly probably more enjoyable tablet experience at the end of the day that and it is just gonna last you longer before you feel compelled to upgrade all right that's it for this video if you liked it let me know if it was helpful i appreciate the feedback either way if it was helpful or wasn't just drop me a comment and let me know and don't forget to hit subscribe if you like this video because my upcoming ipad pro unboxing and review and comparisons and tips all those videos are going to be rolling out soon so get yourself subscribed and i'll catch you guys in the next video later\n"