10.5 ”ipad air (2019) vs. ipad pro 10.5 ”(2017)

Almost by surprise, without waiting for the event that will take place next Monday, March 25, and using an instrument as a simple press release accompanied by the subsequent update of its website, Apple has launched a new 10.5-inch iPad Air that, inevitably, It can be considered the least expensive successor to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, which has already been withdrawn from sale. Faced with this movement, there are many doubts that will arise among users. Therefore, below, we will see a comparison of technical specifications and characteristics between both devices.

10.5-inch iPad Air, a firm heir

There is no doubt that price is one of the essential keys. The new iPad Air starts at a price of 549 euros for the Wi-Fi only version with 64 GB of storage, and 689 euros for this same version with LTE connectivity. In contrast, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro had a base price of 729 euros for the Wi-Fi-only version in one day. Both have 64GB or 256GB storage options (skipping the intermediate 128GB step that works so well for Apple in terms of revenue), but the new iPad Air lacks a 512GB option, which "forces ”For the most demanding users to make the move to the Pro range.

As for the design, both models keep many similarities, including the same dimensions and thickness and the overall appearance. Both have a Touch ID start button, a headphone jack and a Lightning connector, so that the jump to the USB-C connector is limited, for the moment, to the Pro family. On the other hand, the new iPad Air It only has two speakers at the bottom, while the 10.5-inch iPad Pro has (featured) four speakers, two on each of its smaller sides.

The new iPad Air is available in silver, space gray, and a new gold finish that essentially combines gold and rose gold finishes, which were previously available for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

Both iPads feature a fully Retina display with a resolution of 2224 × 1668 pixels and 264 PPI, True Tone, but the new 10.5-inch iPad Air has a refresh rate of 60Hz, while the 10.5-inch iPad Pro has a display called ProMotion with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz.

As for the processor, the new iPad Air includes Apple's A12 Bionic chip compared to the slower A10X Fusion chip of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. The new iPad Air also has dedicated hardware called the "Neural Engine" that handles artificial intelligence and machine learning tasks, while the 10.5-inch iPad Pro does not.

In terms of battery life, both iPads last up to 10 hours per charge, according to internal Apple testing.

At a lower price, the new iPad Air has an 8-megapixel rear camera, compared to the 12-megapixel sensor found on the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. The rear camera of the new iPad Air also lacks LED flash, optical image stabilization, and Focus Pixels.

The FaceTime HD front cameras feature the same 7-megapixel sensors with Live Photos, Retina Flash, and other identical features on both devices.

In terms of connectivity, both iPads have 802.11ac Wi-Fi, but the new iPad Air has Gigabit-class LTE versus the theoretically slower LTE Advanced support of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. The new iPad Air also receives Bluetooth 5.0 compared to Bluetooth 4.2 included in the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

Both are compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil and the 10.5-inch smart keyboard.

Conclusions

• The new iPad Air starts at a price 180 euros lower than the price of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and therefore has some disadvantages: two speakers instead of four, it does not have a ProMotion screen and an 8-megapixel rear camera without LED flash No optical image stabilization. Both iPads have a 10.5-inch Retina display with 264 PPI, headphone jack, Touch ID, Lightning connector, 7-megapixel front camera, up to 10 hours of battery life, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

• The new iPad Air has a few advantages: a faster Bionic A12 chip compared to A10X Fusion, Gigabit-class LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced, and Bluetooth 5.0 vs. 4.2.

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