iPad New iPad Air vs. New iPad Pro

[That70sGAdawg]

The same arguments can be made for the standard iPad. It has stereo speakers now, same ratio resolution , just a slower processor & bigger border. True Tone missing, couple of other minor screen reflective issues, but comes in 128 GB & works with my AirPods Pro on the new surround audio!!

 

[Digitalguy]

As far as I am concerned, I don't care about pro-motion. I would take A14 any day over A12Z (will likely be very close in multicore and way better in single core, which matters more), I prefer touch id over face id... The 0.1 inch is not a big deal. I don't care about 5G. The big deals for me are RAM (we don't know yet, but I guess it will be 4GB) and above all speakers. If these new stereo speakers are good enough it could become compelling... Having said that, now that I have added the tab S7+ to my collection I feel less the urge to upgrade my ipads...

 

[QCassidy352]

At first I thought the Air was a real pro-killer, but the price/storage is the fly in the ointment. I think a lot of people are going to need more than 64 GB, but the only step up is $150 more for 256 GB. At that point, you’re within spitting distance of the 11” Pro. And yes, the base pro has 128 GB, bit I think that’s going to be doable for a lot of people whereas 64 GB will not.

 

[ACG12]

If the price would’ve stayed the same at $499 and 128gb would’ve been offered for $549, I would’ve gone Air. But having to spend $749 to get an Air 4 with enough storage is ridiculous.

I’m probably going to get the 11” Pro 128gb which is currently $749 with EDU and free AirPods. Apple is offering $250 for my Air 3 + I could easily sell the AirPods for $100, bringing the tablet price down to $399.

My money is on the 2020 iPad Pro being the better device long term because of the 6gb of RAM. Apple’s latest track record is that being the deciding factor when it comes to a device extending its iOS support.

 

[thadoggfather]

If the price would’ve stayed the same at $499 and 128gb would’ve been offered for $549, I would’ve gone Air. But having to spend $749 to get an Air 4 with enough storage is ridiculous.

I’m probably going to get the 11” Pro 128gb which is currently $749 with EDU and free AirPods. Apple is offering $250 for my Air 3 + I could easily sell the AirPods for $100, bringing the tablet price down to $399.

My money is on the 2020 iPad Pro being the better device long term because of the 6gb of RAM. Apple’s latest track record is that being the deciding factor when it comes to a device extending its iOS support.

Yeah they screwed the pooch on pricing

 

[rui no onna]

Yeah they screwed the pooch on pricing

Dunno why they don't offer a 128GB option for $50 more similar to iPhones. That's an easy upsell over 64GB.

 

[MaxGolden12]

Dunno why they don't offer a 128GB option for $50 more similar to iPhones. That's an easy upsell over 64GB.

I think it’s to protect some of the sales of the Pro. They probably know 128GB is a sweet spot in terms of storage, but the new design of the Air 4 would appeal to a lot of people who would otherwise be looking to get a 11” Pro. So buyers will have to decide whether to shell out extra money for enough storage on the Air 4 or stick with the Pro if they want 128GB, and it makes sense to go either way IMO.

 

[ouimetnick]

I’m hoping I’ll be able to purchase a gently used 512GB 2018 iPad Pro 11” for around the same price of the new iPad Air. The white spot on the screen of my current iPad Pro 10.5 is getting pretty bad.

 

[wolfboy]

Yeah they screwed the pooch on pricing

Did they now? Any prosumer looking at the $600 iPad Air that wants more than 64gb is going to get upsold into buying the $800 iPad Pro for "just $50 more."

They turned your initial guaranteed $500 sale and squeezed out an extra $100–300

 

[richard371]

It’s an a14 not a 14x which will be in the pro next year. i like the pro motion a lot. The extra ram helps too I would not just go off the a14 being newer then the a12x. The a12z is a beast.

 

[stlredbird]

Until the benchmarks come out I think any debate is premature.

Either way, for me the size of the 12.9, promotion, and extra ram make me go for the pro either way.

 

[ParagJain]

I was never a pro-user and was really looking forward to buy iPad Air; I am really glad that I was too lazy to go out and buy the air last month. Sometimes, laziness helps..will now get the new model once its out in the market and this time around, I am not going to be lazy about it

 

[Ghoster]

This is what the iPad AIR 2020 is for

1- Those who do not want/need the extra features of what the iPad Pro offers

Those who have iPad pros shouldn't be upset , they chose the iPad Pro for a reason

 

[Ghoster]

I could personally have put up with 32gb on the iPad Air , since you can put photos and documents from the iPad to external storage like flash drives, hard drives etc

 

[ejin222]

If you're buying NOW, I would say that the 11" Pro might be worth it based on the fact that they're giving Air Pods away for free. Whether or not you need the Air Pods is up to you. If not, sell it and recuperate the cost. If you can sell them for $100, then a $599 Air vs $699 Pro seems like a much better comparison.

In that scenario, I would personally easily go with the Pro for the higher base storage, more RAM (assuming AIR has 4GN or less), Promotion, Brighter screen (600 vs 500 nits), Quad speakers, and better front/rear cameras - unless you desperately need Blue or Green. The speed differences from the chips, at this point, is negligible in day to day usage.

If we're comparing the 256GB models for both, well, then it's a wash in the park.

 

[rui no onna]

Did they now? Any prosumer looking at the $600 iPad Air that wants more than 64gb is going to get upsold into buying the $800 iPad Pro for "just $50 more."

They turned your initial guaranteed $500 sale and squeezed out an extra $100–300

That's not a guarantee. The customer could still decide to downgrade to iPad 8th gen or not buy an Apple device at all.

 

[thadoggfather]

That's not a guarantee. The customer could still decide to downgrade to iPad 8th gen or not buy an Apple device at all.

or go for a 2018 iPad Pro which is pretty close to the 2020, and probably solid savings by now.

or iPad mini 5, who the heck knows what the 'prosumer' is doing or thinking to your point

--

I cant imagine people that 'need' 256GB Air, decide 'oh the one with a fourth storage that has the pro naming convention, is the way to go for just a little more' they might then think 'the base model is fine, I'm not ponying up any more.' Doesn't seem like a logical leap

 

[rui no onna]

or go for a 2018 iPad Pro which is pretty close to the 2020, and probably solid savings by now.

or iPad mini 5, who the heck knows what the 'prosumer' is doing or thinking to your point

Yep, $549/64GB or $679/256GB for the refurb 2018 iPad Pro 11 is a better deal than either Air 4 or 2020 Pro at MSRP.

 

[trevpimp]

Having a hard time deciding how much the A14 vs A12Z difference really matters. The A14 will almost certainly be faster in single core tasks (which is the vast majority of what you do on an iPad) just because it is based on a 2 year newer architecture. But, the current state of iPadOS doesn’t utilize either chip to anything near it’s potential. So, does it even matter? The extra RAM on the Pro might make more of a difference for everyday tasks. But we just won’t know for sure until we have them in hand and can compare.

If you can get by with 64 GB of storage, it’s really hard to recommend the 11” Pro right now. The Air is so close on almost all fronts and I don’t know if a Pro Motion screen and quad speakers are worth $200. You’ll notice I didn’t mention the camera differences because they have the same wide angle lens and I don’t think anyone cares about LIDAR. If you are like me and only need up to 128 GB of storage, then it’s a harder choice. At that point, I would probably spend the extra $50 and get the base Pro over the 256 GB Air. The A12Z will still be plenty powerful and 6 GB of RAM mean the iPad will be more than useable long into the future. If you need more than 256 GB of storage, I would probably stick with the Air.

This would be awesome to choose an iPad Pro over an Air 4 but I mean come on the latest gadget has changed and the Air now comes with colors! One of the biggest changes Apple has brought to us in a long time. It's been the same option for years and years but now they are making tablets for recreational use ever ready for a lifestyle choice. And with a new physical design Blue iPad Airs rock!

 

[iDron]

In the end comes down to what storage one needs... If 64 is sufficient, definitely iPad Air. If 128GB I'd go with the Pro instead of the 256 Air, the price difference is really minor, plus in the moment you'd get free AirPods.
If 256, I'd pick the Air once again.

Right now debating between 64 Air and 128 Pro. I currently have no iPad, but a 128 iPhone, of which I've used about 60GB. A lot of junk on it though, as I never really cared about deleting downloaded videos or Apps I no longer use or watch. So I might effectively just use about 40GB atm. So probably 64 might be enough, especially with the cloud. But also don't want to run into storage issues after a year.

 

[C. Robert]

Start the Pro's at 256, the air at 128 and the regular iPad at 64. Anything else is just greedy.

 

[BlankStar]

I'm really bummed. I just got my 11" iPad Pro a couple of weeks ago since all the rumors said the refresh wouldn't include the IPP. Well, the rumors didn't lie, but I didn't see that iPad Air coming. I'm really bummed they put it a brand new A14 CPU and in serious doubt to return my IPP and get me an iPad Air since it will work with my magic keyboard and apple pencil 2. Hope we'll get some benchmarks real soon.

 

[SoYoung]

This new iPad air is in a strange position. The price gap between the two are way too small. With this little difference, you're better off grabbing the iPad pro instead. What a strange decision. The iPad Air line used to be on the sweet spot in term of price and features between the regular one and the pro lines. Now, the Air is basically a pro.

 

[SoYoung]

I don’t even see a point in buying the pro unless you insist on Face ID and 13 inches.

If you need more storage, and this new air model will probably have less RAM VS the pro line.

 

[Kal-037]

It sucks I chose the Air, because the Pro should have the best and most powerful specs and come with color options. *I want a green or blue aluminum body on my iPad Pro.
Sorry, tangent is over. It makes more sense to get the Air 4 for value and specs. The iPad Pro has no advantage now besides ProMotion and larger screen, oh, and LiDAR sensor. Lol