Apple has made it much harder to distinguish between the iPad Pro and cheaper iPad Air with the latest release and we don’t blame you for thinking they are nearly identical products. However, internally, both iPads provide a potentially different experience.

	iPad Air 4	iPad Pro 11″ (2020)
Operating system	iPadOS 14 (or later)	iPadOS 14 (or later)
RAM	4GB	6GB
Storage	64GB, 256GB	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Processor	Apple A12Z Bionic	Apple A14 Bionic
Camera	12MP Wide 7MP front	12MP Wide 10MP Ultra-Wide 7MP front
Video	4K at 24, 30, 60 fps; 1080p at 30, 60, 120, 240 fps	4K at 24, 30, 60 fps; 1080p at 30, 60, 120, 240 fps
Bluetooth	5.0	5.0
WiFi	WiFi 6	WiFi 6
Authentication	Touch ID, Passcode	Face ID, Passcode
Connectivity	USB-C, Smart Keyboard Connector	USB-C, Smart Keyboard Connector
Colours	Silver, Space Gray, Rose Gold, Green, Sky Blue	Space Grey, Silver
Dimensions	247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1mm 458-460g	247.6 x 178.5 x 5.9mm 471-473g
Display	Liquid Retina 500nits max brightness 2360×1640 resolution Wide-colour (P3) TrueTone	Liquid Retina 600nits max brightness 2388×1668 Wide-colour (P3) TrueTone ProMotion

iPad Air 4 and iPad Pro 11″ look nearly identical. They have the same flat-slab aluminum design with edge-to-edge displays on the front and magnets on the side for Apple Pencil. iPad Air 4, though, has a choice of rose gold, silver, green, blue and space grey colours and has a single camera, whilst iPad Pro has the addition of a LiDAR sensor and Ultra Wide lens but half the colour choices.

The iPad Pro 11″ pulls ahead when it comes to display – it has support for ProMotion, Apple’s 120Hz refresh rate technology and a larger 11″ Liquid Retina display with a slightly sharper resolution of 2388 x 1668. Similarly, the iPad Air has a 10.9″ Liquid Retina display at 2360 x 1640 but lacks the ProMotion technology. Both have TrueTone, wide-colour gamut support. You’ll also find that the iPad Pro’s bezels are that little bit thinner – which you might appreciate for years to come.

Winner: iPad Air 4

This is the major difference between the Air and Pro line. In March, Apple updated the iPad Pro with a LiDAR sensor and Ultra Wide camera but has not used this camera technology in the cheaper Air.

The iPad Pro 11″ has a 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture positioned alongside 10MP Ultra Wide lens with an aperture of f/2.4. iPad Air 4 has that single 12MP camera with no flash. Both support Smart HDR, auto focus and wide colour capture.

Video is similar too – both devices can capture 4K video at 24, 30 and 60fps and 1080p video at 30, 60, 120, 240 fps. Both have a 7MP front-facing camera but iPad Pro steps ahead with support for Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting effects (thanks to that superior TrueDepth lens) – it works with Animoji too.

If you’re into augemented reality, that LiDAR sensor on the iPad Pro will be your thing. Don’t get your hopes up just yet – we haven’t seen many apps take advantage of it.

Winner: iPad Pro (due to the Ultra Wide and TrueDepth additions)

It’s not clear yet what the performance differences are between the iPad Air 4, which has Apple’s latest A14 Bionic chip, and the iPad Pro 11″ with an A12Z Bionic. It will likely be very similar, despite the difference between generations of processor – the iPad Air 4 only has 4GB of RAM compared to the Pro’s 6GB.

This should help the iPad Pro maintain background activity and multitasking better but the iPad Air is certainly not underpowered. That A14 Bionic chip is the same one from the iPhone 12 Pro and has been rebuilt on a 5nm architecture with six-core CPU and new four-core GPU. Both iPads are better than any of the competition.

iPad Air is limited to 64GB and 256GB and doesn’t have the 128GB and 512GB capacities of the pricier iPad Pro. Most users won’t be affected by the limited storage on offer, but certainly think about what you’ll use the device for before buying it – or you could end up purchasing iCloud storage.

Winner: Tie

• Both have the latest WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5
• iPad Air 4 has Touch ID integrated into the power button, iPad Pro has Face ID
• Both have USB and a Smart Connector
• Both have support for the Apple Pencil 2
• Both work with Apple’s Magic Keyboard
• iPad Pro works out at 0.2mm thinner than iPad Air 4

Winner: iPad Air 4

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