In September 2020, after trying the iPad Air 4, someone made a paradoxical conclusion. This conclusion is considered the only correct one these days: everyone knows that the iPad Air 4 is better . It is in no way inferior to the small Pro, but is cheaper. And as if Apple did it on purpose and are going to abandon the 11-inch iPad Pro altogether because of this. Only Apple knows about Apple’s plans. There is no next-generation 11-inch iPad Pro rumored, but that doesn’t mean it will never be there again. But you can compare the iPad Air and the 11-inch iPad Pro 2020 in the same configuration (256GB, Wi-Fi only) right now.
The 2020 11-inch iPad Pro and the 2020 10.9-inch iPad Air were released in the same year, but in completely different eras. It has nothing to do with finding out which of them is better, but it is necessary to mention how March 2020 differs from September 2020. In March 2020, at factories in mainland China (and all iPads were then produced only there), including those that had already returned to work, there were problems even with the release of familiar and well-mastered products. It would be madness to launch something new and doomed to fail. And despite the crisis and unfavorable conditions, in a few months, it was necessary to release the first Mac with Apple Silicon inside.
It seems that instead of the iPad Pro, which was supposed to be released in March or April 2020, its simplified, crisis version came out. By the time the iPad Air 4 was released, the situation had changed radically. The virus has not gone anywhere, but they have learned to live with it. The problems due to the virus were over the top, but they did not interfere with the development of exactly what was to be developed. It was difficult to launch the production of something new, but they managed to overcome these difficulties.
Comparison of iPad Air 4 vs iPad Pro 2020
In Geekbench 5 Metal, the Apple A14 in the iPad Air 4 outperformed the Apple 12Z in the 11-inch iPad Pro, scoring 12,520 points versus 11,764.1: 0 in favor of the Air. The Apple A14 GPU has four cores of the new architecture, while the Apple A12Z has an 8-core GPU. The same Apple A14 in the iPhone 12 scores significantly fewer points – in the iPhone 12 – 9207, in the iPhone 12 Pro – 9217.
In single-threaded tests, the victory was also for the Apple A14 and iPad Air 4 – 1518 points against 1118 for the Pro. 2: 0 in favor of Air. But in multi-threaded tests (in fact, this is the real performance of the tablet processor), Pro wins – Air and A14 have 4173 points, Pro 4637. Formally, 2: 1 in favor of Air.
Under load, the airy lightness of iPad Air is powerless against overheating. Formally 2: 1, in fact – a fighting draw. At the same time, the size of the RAM in the iPad Air 4 (4 GB) is one and a half times less than in the 11-inch iPad Pro (6 GB). That is, the iPad Air is in no way inferior to the 11-inch iPad Pro, but is it much cheaper? Most important of all, the 11-inch iPad Pro outperforms the iPad Air 4 by 1.2x. By 20%. By the way, about much cheaper – how true is that?
Prices iPad Air 4 and iPad Pro 2020
We’re comparing an iPad Air 4 and an 11-inch Wi-Fi-only iPad Pro with 256GB of flash storage. For iPad Air 4, this is the maximum capacity, iPad Pro can be purchased with 512GB or even 1TB storage. The storage capacity of the tablet used for work remains a very important parameter even in our cloudy times. In this regard, the iPad Pro is better – 3: 2 in favor of the Pro. Now, when you can connect external drives to the tablet ( there are already adapters for this and inexpensive ones), the small capacity of the built-in drive is not fatal, but nevertheless, it matters.
The 256GB iPad Air is, of course, cheaper than the 11-inch iPad Pro in the same configuration: the Wi-Fi-only iPad Air costs RUB 69,900, the Wi-Fi-only iPad Pro costs RUB 78,990. In this case, less is better, 3: 3 .
iPad Pro with 512 GB and 1 TB storage, of course, are even more expensive: 96,990 rubles and 114,990 rubles. How much the Air would have cost with drives of this capacity, we will not guess, especially since a 1 TB iPad Air with 4 GB of RAM would not have pulled, and 6 GB would have made it even more expensive.
Why iPad Pro is better than iPad Air
It is impossible to objectively assess these circumstances, everyone decides for himself what is better and what is worse. What is noticeable and what is not. For example, which is better – Touch ID or Face ID? I’m a supporter of Touch ID, but that doesn’t mean the iPad Air 4 is better because of it. While wearing masks, Face ID works worse. But sooner or later it will pass. I’d rather have both.
