All iPads Is the iPad Air 2020 better than the iPad Pro 2018?

[a_rodriguezh]

I want an iPad. I really want the usb c and the bigger screen. I can't really afford the latest iPad Pro (and I don't think I need all that horsepower). My mind immediately went to the 2020 iPad Air, but at a similar price tag I can get the 2018 iPad Pro with the slightly bigger screen and built-in flash (not that I will really use it).

Why would you choose one over the other?

 

[rui no onna]

Since storage (64GB) and RAM (4GB) are the same, 2020 Air for me for better battery life (5nm A14 iPhone chip vs 7nm A12X supercharged iPad chip). LED flash is useful but at this time, TouchID + battery life trumps that for me.

Of course, I don’t really care about the following other features from the 2018 Pro:

• FaceID
• ProMotion
• quad speakers
• brighter display
• better multi-core performance
• better graphics performance

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I compared the 2 last January as a refurbed 2018 Pro was the same price. I went with the Air and haven’t been disappointed.

 

[1BadManVan]

If it was the same price and the performance is very similar as well, why not get the pro for all the extra features? Not paying extra to have them so why not enjoy them? The extra multi core performance and graphics might also help in the future

I would definitely go for the pro for the better screen and speakers alone.

 

[wilberforce]

I have the 2018 11" IPP and really like it. Really like the FaceID and speakers (esp. with spatial audio).
ProMotion display is nice, but I find it slightly ghosty. Gives virtually zero lag with Apple Pencil. Have never felt I needed to upgrade to a later 11" model. Will upgrade if/when a miniLED version is available.

If I was offered a new iPad Air for my 2018 11" iPP, I would definitely decline.

See this thread:

2018 iPad Pro

I bought a 2018 11" iPad Pro about 6 months post release when there was a killer sale at Best Buy, something like $150 off. I've had it ever since and have never had a single complaint about it and probably use it more often than my MBA. I recently came across a similar sale on the most recent...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Sullivan0930]

Since storage (64GB) and RAM (4GB) are the same, 2020 Air for me for better battery life (5nm A14 iPhone chip vs 7nm A12X supercharged iPad chip). LED flash is useful but at this time, TouchID + battery life trumps that for me.

Of course, I don’t really care about the following other features from the 2018 Pro:

• FaceID
• ProMotion
• quad speakers
• brighter display
• better multi-core performance
• better graphics performance

im the complete opposite. id get the pro alone just for the quad speakers, the ipad pros audio is one of the best features of it overall. You will also want that brighter display if you are ever outside, and if youre getting a bigger display then you definitely will benefit from pro motion imo.. Performance wise most wont ever see a difference, faceID is good, but i would honestly take touch id over it. the camera placement makes face id always hit or miss with me.

ive never used flash on my ipad (or the camera outside of facetime) and i wouldnt even consider it an option worth comparing the two.

 

[MacFather]

The 2020 Air is a crippled version of the 2018 Pro.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

You’ll always get responses here that support the Pro of any Apple device on this forum. It’s the same in the iPhone section as the standard devices get ridiculed because most people here are tech enthusiasts and that’s what happens.

@OP - The Air 4 is a really good and capable iPad. Of course if you are using it for productivity, graphic design, video editing, watching content on it and need the speakers as the sole sound source in a large room, the Pro may be a better option. Then again it’s 2 years older than the Air and there are features some will prefer on the newer device. From what you have said you want a bigger screen and USB-C so you are not going to go wrong with either. I personally went for the Air because I liked the TouchID feature and the new form factor. I could have bought the entry level iPad in all honesty as I only use it to browse content and browse the internet. The USB-C element is a bit of a pain in the backside for me as I have to now take three different chargers with me when I go away (Watch, iPhone, iPad), so wouldn’t have cared if it had kept the lightning port.

Good luck with your choice OP, and although few will say this, you won’t go wrong with either device as they are both great products.

 

[SkiHound2]

I'm not a real power user with my iPad. I mostly use it for streaming video, web browsing, reading, keeping up with email, listening to music, light photo editing while travelling, etc. For the reasons listed previously I'd rather have the 2018 Pro than the Air. Other than the upgrade to M1, the differences between the 2018 11" Pro and current 11" Pro are pretty minimal. The Air is a very nice device and will have faster (at least as measured by benchmarks) single core performance. But I think the 2018 Pro offers a better overall experience. I'm also of the opinion that except for a few true power users, the differences in processor performance between A12x, A15, and M1 are basically moot for folks like me.

 

[Username-already-in-use]

I don’t think there is a bad decision here. A14 is better than the A12X in single core performance and better for most tasks (unless you are doing graphical or video work, then A12X is better).

What tips the balance for me is ProMotion, which would be the 2018 Pro. If that doesn’t matter to you, then the Air 4 would be fine.

 

[geta]

For day to day tasks, reading and media consumption both of them will be fine. Unless the 2018 iPP is cheaper (or you must have 4 speakers), get the iPad Air 4 coz its newer and having Touch ID.

 

[Digitalguy]

For most people, a refurbished 2018 is better.
Personally I prefer touch id to face id, but despite that I would get the 2018 pro with no hesitation (I actually have it) for the following reasons:
- quad speakers (most important one)
- more screen real estate
- promotion (not a big deal, but still nice sometimes)

Power and battery life are basically the same (the 2018 11 pro has slightly better battery life than the 2020 and 2021 11 pro). I don't care about brightness, even 500 nits is plenty, especially as a use a matte screen protector. Software support is unknown and might be the same for both.

 

[rui no onna]

im the complete opposite. id get the pro alone just for the quad speakers, the ipad pros audio is one of the best features of it overall. You will also want that brighter display if you are ever outside, and if youre getting a bigger display then you definitely will benefit from pro motion imo.. Performance wise most wont ever see a difference, faceID is good, but i would honestly take touch id over it. the camera placement makes face id always hit or miss with me.

I currently own both 2020 Air 4 and 2021 Pro 11 (use them alternately when the other one is charging). Apart from extra RAM and 1TB storage, I don't really care about any of the 2021 Pro features (and I've had access to quad speakers since 2016 and ProMotion since 2017). The 0.1" display difference is negligible. Brightness is a moot point considering I tend to keep it between 0-25% (even have Reduce White Point enabled at night).

At one point in time, I had an Apple certified refurb 2018 12.9 1TB and Amazon open-box 2020 12.9 1TB. That was within return period while trying to decide which to keep between 2018, 2020 and 2021 12.9. The refurb 2018 had noticeably worse battery life compared to the 2020 12.9, 2021 12.9 and 2020 Air 4 with the same settings/tasks. Iirc, the 2021 Pro 12.9 and 2020 Air 4 typically gave me 15+ hours onscreen time and standby battery drain was around half of the 2018 Pro 12.9.

Previously, I also had the 2017 Pro 10.5 (acquired early 2019) and 2019 Air 3. Battery is shot on the Pro 10.5 (A10X/4GB) while Air 3 (A12/3GB) still has very good battery life.

If I could BTO an iPad, it would be a mashup of the Air 4/mini 6 and Pro 11:

• Apple A15
• 16GB RAM (8GB is acceptable)
• 1TB storage
• TouchID power button and FaceID
• same camera setup as mini 6
• stereo speakers are fine
• Price: $1200 or less

 

[Digitalguy]

I currently own both 2020 Air 4 and 2021 Pro 11 (use them alternately when the other one is charging). Apart from extra RAM and 1TB storage, I don't really care about any of the 2021 Pro features (and I've had access to quad speakers since 2016 and ProMotion since 2017). The 0.1" display difference is negligible. Brightness is a moot point considering I tend to keep it between 0-25% (even have Reduce White Point enabled at night).

At one point in time, I had an Apple certified refurb 2018 12.9 1TB and Amazon open-box 2020 12.9 1TB. That was within return period while trying to decide which to keep between 2018, 2020 and 2021 12.9. The refurb 2018 had noticeably worse battery life compared to the 2020 12.9, 2021 12.9 and 2020 Air 4 with the same settings/tasks. Iirc, the 2021 Pro 12.9 and 2020 Air 4 typically gave me 15+ hours onscreen time and standby battery drain was around half of the 2018 Pro 12.9.

Previously, I also had the 2017 Pro 10.5 (acquired early 2019) and 2019 Air 3. Battery is shot on the Pro 10.5 (A10X/4GB) while Air 3 (A12/3GB) still has very good battery life.

If I could BTO an iPad, it would be a mashup of the Air 4/mini 6 and Pro 11:

• Apple A15
• 16GB RAM (8GB is acceptable)
• 1TB storage
• TouchID power button and FaceID
• same camera setup as mini 6
• stereo speakers are fine
• Price: $1200 or less

Having both the 2018 11 pro and 12.9 pro, I can confirm that the battery life on the 11 pro is noticeably better...
I agree with the list, except for the speakers, but it's also because I often use the tablet while doing other things that make noise such as fitness, cooking, washing the dishes, shaving etc. and I have been spoiled with the even better and louder speakers of the Samsung Tab S7+. Some people use airpods all the time, so speakers don't matter....

 

[rui no onna]

Having both the 2018 11 pro and 12.9 pro, I can confirm that the battery life on the 11 pro is noticeably better...
I agree with the list, except for the speakers, but it's also because I often use the tablet while doing other things that make noise such as fitness, cooking, washing the dishes, shaving etc. and I have been spoiled with the even better and louder speakers of the Samsung Tab S7+. Some people use airpods all the time, so speakers don't matter....

Based on previous experience with 2017 Pro 11/Air 3 and 2018 Pro 12.9, I'm still inclined to believe the A14 2020 Air 4 would have better battery life than the refurb A12X 2018 Pro 11. 5nm vs 7nm, 6W vs 15W TDP, fewer CPU cores, half the GPU cores.

And yeah, most of my iPad usage, I use either AirPods or am in a quiet room so I've never really cared overmuch about the built-in speakers. Of course, I also own a 2021 12.9 and I tend to use that for watching so speakers on the Air/Pro 11 is kind of a moot point.

For listening while performing other noisy tasks, we just use the TV or one of the smart speakers (got a mix of Amazon Echo Dots and Google Home Minis that were pretty much $0-5 with promo).

 

[sonstar]

no way

 

[ian87w]

I want an iPad. I really want the usb c and the bigger screen. I can't really afford the latest iPad Pro (and I don't think I need all that horsepower). My mind immediately went to the 2020 iPad Air, but at a similar price tag I can get the 2018 iPad Pro with the slightly bigger screen and built-in flash (not that I will really use it).

Why would you choose one over the other?

If the price and storage are the same, I would get the Pro for the quad speaker. A much better enjoyment for watching videos.

The flash can be useful for scanning documents (to provide more consistent light instead of relying on room lighting).

 

[rui no onna]

Good luck with your choice OP, and although few will say this, you won’t go wrong with either device as they are both great products.

Agreed. Both are good options. It just depends on what features matter more to you.

 

[snipr125]

Since storage (64GB) and RAM (4GB) are the same, 2020 Air for me for better battery life (5nm A14 iPhone chip vs 7nm A12X supercharged iPad chip). LED flash is useful but at this time, TouchID + battery life trumps that for me.

Of course, I don’t really care about the following other features from the 2018 Pro:

• FaceID
• ProMotion
• quad speakers
• brighter display
• better multi-core performance
• better graphics performance

The A14 in the Air 4 actually has better GPU performance in some tests e.g. Metal score is 12466 on Geekbench 5 compared to the A12X 11,738. Some other GPU tests do show the A12X to be slightly better. All in all though, the GPU performance between these 2 chips are about equal, although the A14 achieves this with fewer GPU cores due its better efficiency (4 vs 7). This only really matters if one is using their ipad for GPU intensive tasks like video editing, 3D rendering etc.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Have you used an iPad Pro before? If not, get the Air. If yes, you'll want to stick with a Pro - you can find some refurbished 2018 iPad Pros for a very reasonable price.

I used an Air 4 (after using a 2018 Pro for years) and found it to be near perfect for what I needed it for (at the time). I eventually went back to the Pro because mother in law needed an iPad and it was a good excuse for me to go back to a Pro <cough>.

What do I like about the Pro? Better speakers, 120hz screen (means Apple Pencil feels a lot better to write with), and USB C dock support with the M1 iPad Pro. My 11' M1 iPad Pro is my most used Apple device. Before that, my 2018 iPad Pro 11 was my most used device. I spend hours and hours and hours on this thing (mostly reading).

 

[Vivian125]

Both device are good for gaming. However as I have iPad 10 i still feel that when playing Genshin Impact (24GB) the animation and frames drops a bit in comparison of my managers iPad Pro 2018 her iPad has way smoother fps probably due to the 120hz or Octacores or something like that.

So for most task I’d vote for iPad Air 4 when just browsing the web, emails, gaming for longer period of time as it has better battery than used or brand new iPad Pro 2018/2020. Both A12X/A12Z are still A12 so they are more closer to A14 performance than to A10X, but the battery is in between due to the fact it’s getting older.

only pick up the iPad Pro 2018 when you’re into Editing, 120hz, quad speakers (if you don’t own a Bluetooth speaker or EarPods), and playing heavy games.. since GPU/Octa Core of the A12X will only trigger Shine when your Playing Genshin/COD or any open Maps out there, as well as 3D rendering..

 

[1BadManVan]

Both device are good for gaming. However as I have iPad 10 i still feel that when playing Genshin Impact (24GB) the animation and frames drops a bit in comparison of my managers iPad Pro 2018 her iPad has way smoother fps probably due to the 120hz or Octacores or something like that.

So for most task I’d vote for iPad Air 4 when just browsing the web, emails, gaming for longer period of time as it has better battery than used or brand new iPad Pro 2018/2020. Both A12X/A12Z are still A12 so they are more closer to A14 performance than to A10X, but the battery is in between due to the fact it’s getting older.

only pick up the iPad Pro 2018 when you’re into Editing, 120hz, quad speakers (if you don’t own a Bluetooth speaker or EarPods), and playing heavy games.. since GPU/Octa Core of the A12X will only trigger Shine when your Playing Genshin/COD or any open Maps out there, as well as 3D rendering..

how come you keep reviving such old threads? this is from 2021. I could get it if you wanted to ask a question in regards to it but adding advice to something a couple years later seems kind of pointless. Seen you do this a couple times now

 

[Digitalguy]

how come you keep reviving such old threads? this is from 2021. I could get it if you wanted to ask a question in regards to it but adding advice to something a couple years later seems kind of pointless. Seen you do this a couple times now

It's actually more than a couple of times, she keeps waking up these old threads very regularly and some people don't even realize they are old and they reply to posts from several years ago. And she also does one comment that wakes it up, then stops any other interaction with the thread.

 

[FeliApple]

It's actually more than a couple of times, she keeps waking up these old threads very regularly and some people don't even realize they are old and they reply to posts from several years ago. And she also does one comment that wakes it up, then stops any other interaction with the thread.

This happened several times on the iPhone forum too.

My qualm with this forum is that it’s made up of enthusiasts who kind of only discuss the latest devices, so older devices are seldomly mentioned, but it would be pointless to revive, say, 9.7-inch iPad Pro threads from 2016.

This user has revived tens of posts throughout at least the main iPhone and iPad forums.

 

[1BadManVan]

This happened several times on the iPhone forum too.

My qualm with this forum is that it’s made up of enthusiasts who kind of only discuss the latest devices, so older devices are seldomly mentioned, but it would be pointless to revive, say, 9.7-inch iPad Pro threads from 2016.

This user has revived tens of posts throughout at least the main iPhone and iPad forums.

And i guess our mods aren’t doing about this? Even though it’s cluttering the forum and stopping actual relevant posts from being answered.