iPad Air Air 3 vs. Air 4

[jb1280]

Yeah id wait it out. It looks like the 11 inch pro will be discontinued later in the year and the air 5 will become what the pro is now with the less chunky bezels, 4 speakers maybe pro motion etc.

That’s not at all what things look like.

Most recent consensus is there is an imminent refresh of the 11” Pro with a new SOC and probably upgraded connector
.

The next Air could be as long as a year or more away with an OLED display.

 

[ggx12]

Yeah id wait it out. It looks like the 11 inch pro will be discontinued later in the year and the air 5 will become what the pro is now with the less chunky bezels, 4 speakers maybe pro motion etc.

I know I may get some flack for this but I feel apple have purposely made the bezels on the air 4 thicker to make it look less premium than the pro. So in my mind the air 4 is a compromise in design, whereas the air 3 (when that design was for the pro models) was not a compromise.

I could not have wrote it better! I know its a 'first'-world problem but it does feel like a let down as I also feel it was a little sneaky line management fix. Was there ever a iFixit teardown to understand why the screen is 0.1 inch smaller? I found it here:

but no mention of why the screen is smaller...

 

[Seanm87]

I own an Air 4 and it’s hardly noticeable. Certainly not an eyesore!

My point is more that Apple have made the bezel thicker for no reason other than to make it look less premium than the pro. There is no technical reason why it needs to be thicker.

whether it bothers anyone is purely subjective but it’s still a compromise in design.

 

[satchmo]

Got an iPad Air 4 coming from a 7th gen iPad...because yes to me, the bezels were an eyesore.

 

[snipr125]

My point is more that Apple have made the bezel thicker for no reason other than to make it look less premium than the pro. There is no technical reason why it needs to be thicker.

whether it bothers anyone is purely subjective but it’s still a compromise in design.

Apple definitely made the bezel on the Air 4 0.1 cm thicker purely to differentiate it over the Ipad Pro 11, as both devices are being sold at the same time. If they both had the 11” screen then everyone (not technically minded) would just buy the Air 4 as it would then look identical to the Pro but £200 cheaper. Apart from 0.1 cm bezel difference though, the Air 4 and 2018 Pro 11 are basically identical in design and overall performance.