bageljoey said: When comparing the $200 difference between the two base models, I think the difference in base storage is quite significant. If 64GB is not enough for you, your only option with the Air4 is to spend $150 more which mostly wipes out the cost difference. To me, the difference in storage is at least as significant as other differentiators that seem to get more attention (camera difference, LiDAR, nits...)
Bigger storage isn't so important for corporate machines. Price and bang for the buck is the reason the air is the top selling iPad, and this makes it even more so.
Great spec and feature comparison btw Ai. I can see the Air replacing my 10.5 inch pro in the future. Cook made it pretty clear in the keynote that there won’t be more changes to full size iPads this year it seemed to me. He referenced that the iPad Pro was updated earlier this year.
According to yesterday's keynote, Tim Cook mentioned that the base model $329 iPad is Apple's most popular iPad model, not the Air. The Air is for those that want Pro features at a more affordable price than the iPad Pro.
The Air is for those that want to pretend they have Pro features, which they clearly do not. Making it have a full-size screen does not make it a Pro.
bageljoey said: When comparing the $200 difference between the two base models, I think the difference in base storage is quite significant. If 64GB is not enough for you, your only option with the Air4 is to spend $150 more which mostly wipes out the cost difference. To me, the difference in storage is at least as significant as other differentiators that seem to get more attention (camera difference, LiDAR, nits...)
Bigger storage isn't so important for corporate machines. Price and bang for the buck is the reason the air is the top selling iPad, and this makes it even more so.
Great spec and feature comparison btw Ai. I can see the Air replacing my 10.5 inch pro in the future. Cook made it pretty clear in the keynote that there won’t be more changes to full size iPads this year it seemed to me. He referenced that the iPad Pro was updated earlier this year.
According to yesterday's keynote, Tim Cook mentioned that the base model $329 iPad is Apple's most popular iPad model, not the Air. The Air is for those that want Pro features at a more affordable price than the iPad Pro.
The Air is for those that want to pretend they have Pro features, which they clearly do not. Making it have a full-size screen does not make it a Pro.
No one said the iPad Air is a Pro because it has an all-screen design. Maybe you should re-read and understand what I wrote.
With its A14 Bionic processor, compared to the 11-inch iPad Pro's A12Z Bionic, there is more power in the new iPad Air.
That is likely not the case. The A12Z has four high-performance cores to the A14's two, and eight GPU cores to the A14's four. I'd expect better single-core performance from the Air, but the Pro is likely to be more performant in multi-core and GPU applications. This is the second comparison article from Apple Insider that failed to point out these differences. If I were in the market, I would certainly hold out for an iPad Pro update to A14-class chips, but I don't think one can presume that the Air is more powerful than the Pro given the information that we have.
Exactly this! Both AI articles comparing the Air and the Pro intentionally left out this key information. Just because one processor is 'two numbers' higher than the other, does not make it faster. The A14 is lacking the high performance cores and has half the amount of graphics cores compared to the A12Z. Also, the fact that the Pro has the superior display with ProMotion, does not make the Air automatically faster. Stop pretending the new Air has better features than the Pro. It clearly doesn't. It might look like a Pro, but it isn't.
With its A14 Bionic processor, compared to the 11-inch iPad Pro's A12Z Bionic, there is more power in the new iPad Air.
That is likely not the case. The A12Z has four high-performance cores to the A14's two, and eight GPU cores to the A14's four. I'd expect better single-core performance from the Air, but the Pro is likely to be more performant in multi-core and GPU applications. This is the second comparison article from Apple Insider that failed to point out these differences. If I were in the market, I would certainly hold out for an iPad Pro update to A14-class chips, but I don't think one can presume that the Air is more powerful than the Pro given the information that we have.
Exactly this! Both AI articles comparing the Air and the Pro intentionally left out this key information. Just because one processor is 'two numbers' higher than the other, does not make it faster. The A14 is lacking the high performance cores and has half the amount of graphics cores compared to the A12Z. Also, the fact that the Pro has the superior display with ProMotion, does not make the Air automatically faster. Stop pretending the new Air has better features than the Pro. It clearly doesn't. It might look like a Pro, but it isn't.
For mainstream buyers, maybe this is what they want. An modern-looking iPad without top-of-the-line features.
Cook mentioned upgrading the whole line multiple times... Maybe they're just delaying the iPad Pro a little bit so it can share the 5G/Apple silicon thunder?
or the iPad Pro which was upgraded only 6 months ago will still left untouched until Spring 2021.
if an upgrade happens in late 2020. I assume it will only be to include the A14/A14X and a 5G modem to the cellular models.
With its A14 Bionic processor, compared to the 11-inch iPad Pro's A12Z Bionic, there is more power in the new iPad Air.
That is likely not the case. The A12Z has four high-performance cores to the A14's two, and eight GPU cores to the A14's four. I'd expect better single-core performance from the Air, but the Pro is likely to be more performant in multi-core and GPU applications. This is the second comparison article from Apple Insider that failed to point out these differences. If I were in the market, I would certainly hold out for an iPad Pro update to A14-class chips, but I don't think one can presume that the Air is more powerful than the Pro given the information that we have.
Exactly this! Both AI articles comparing the Air and the Pro intentionally left out this key information. Just because one processor is 'two numbers' higher than the other, does not make it faster. The A14 is lacking the high performance cores and has half the amount of graphics cores compared to the A12Z. Also, the fact that the Pro has the superior display with ProMotion, does not make the Air automatically faster. Stop pretending the new Air has better features than the Pro. It clearly doesn't. It might look like a Pro, but it isn't.
There's a difference between some sort of generic "two numbers higher"-label, and "two generations" newer, though…
Just a random different number means nothing, while when it refers to later generations it means that it gets complicated comparing them.
Just the information that I was looking for, so thanks for posting this timely article. I'm disappointed that Apple didn't see fit to bump up the iPad Pro specs. That device should clearly be the high end device, and it's only marginally so with the iPad Air release. It's certainly not worth the extra $200, at least for my personal needs.
Apple probably can’t. There is only so much foundry capacity for making new 5 nm chips. Along with the new iPad Air Apple needs SoCs for new iPhones and at least one new Mac by the end of the year. Now the relatively minor refresh of the iPad Pro last spring makes more sense. There will probably be new A14X iPad Pros next year in late winter to early spring.
“So rather than driving the entire display at top speed, the iPad Pro assesses where that speed will give you the most benefit. If you're drawing on it with the Apple Pencil, then the area right under your fingers will refresh at 120Hz, but the app's unchanging tool palette will not.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s how variable refresh rate / ProMotion works. Today’s technology can’t isolate various parts of the screen for multiple refresh rates at once. Instead, the entire screen either ramps up or down depending on the UI element with the most demand at the time. If you’re staring at the Springboard then the screen can slow down. If you touch a pencil to the screen then the entire screen must speed up. It’s still an overall energy savings though.
With its A14 Bionic processor, compared to the 11-inch iPad Pro's A12Z Bionic, there is more power in the new iPad Air.
That is likely not the case. The A12Z has four high-performance cores to the A14's two, and eight GPU cores to the A14's four. I'd expect better single-core performance from the Air, but the Pro is likely to be more performant in multi-core and GPU applications. This is the second comparison article from Apple Insider that failed to point out these differences. If I were in the market, I would certainly hold out for an iPad Pro update to A14-class chips, but I don't think one can presume that the Air is more powerful than the Pro given the information that we have.
Exactly this! Both AI articles comparing the Air and the Pro intentionally left out this key information. Just because one processor is 'two numbers' higher than the other, does not make it faster. The A14 is lacking the high performance cores and has half the amount of graphics cores compared to the A12Z. Also, the fact that the Pro has the superior display with ProMotion, does not make the Air automatically faster. Stop pretending the new Air has better features than the Pro. It clearly doesn't. It might look like a Pro, but it isn't.
For mainstream buyers, maybe this is what they want. An modern-looking iPad without top-of-the-line features.
The point that MacQuadra840av and myself are making isn't about the desirability of the Air, but rather that AI's comparison of the new Air and the Pro is inaccurate. They have done users a disservice in lazily concluding that the Air has a more powerful processor with little more evidence than '14 is larger than 12'. This spec comparison article should mention that the Pro has twice the high-performance cores (4 vs 2) and twice the GPU cores (8 vs 4) compared to the Air. We won't know how significant the difference is until the Air is out in the wild, and I expect the A14 to hold its own, but I would be surprised if it bests the A12Z/A12X in much more than single-core benchmarks.
I'll be the first to admit that all of the USB names confuse the heck out of me, especially with the way it keeps getting renamed. I've never had an iPad as much as I've wanted one, the extra money has never been in the cards until maybe now.
So the iPad Air has USB-C. I see that in the picture on Apple's website. But I only see one end of the cable. What's the other end that plugs into the computer? I presume USB-C. Or does it plug into an outlet charger like an iPhone does?
Finally, what is wrong with AI where I have to sign in like 3 times just to post a comment! It's been that way for months.
This iPad Air reflects Tim Cook's philosophy of not worrying about cannibalizing your own products. Apple obviously had the 5 nm technology in-hand and ready for market for the iPad Air 4 and made a conscious decision to put it in the next release to hit the market. They could have held back to further differentiate their marketing and sales strategy between the Air and the Pro, but no, they didn't. They did what is best for their customers and absorbed the risk of lost sales of the higher priced product.
Apple Silicon is on the rapidly rising part of the lifecycle curve and is going to be a tide raiser across all products that it impacts. Apple isn't going to nickel and dime their customers by holding back technology that they know will deliver better value for their customers today in an attempt to maximize their profits tomorrow. The net result is that there will be some specific leapfrogging taking place in some areas, especially CPU technology, and more severely when there is a staggered release schedule between products. The overall trend across all products will be that everything will continue to get elevated across the board over time and new releases but they are not going to hold back and ride their cash-cows for incremental profit deltas across products.
Technology companies that sweat the perceived threat of cannibalization and hold back on the release of capabilities that are already in-hand and ready to ship are the ones you should worry about. Apple, under Tim Cook, is not one of those companies. Once competitors get a whiff of what you're holding back on, you are a sitting duck.
Looks like you are NOT paying attention to the details. Apple is great at differentiating the products in different price segments extremely well and this year is no different. iPad Air 2019 has 3 GB of RAM. We are yet to get details on how much RAM the iPad Air 2020 version has. It is either 3 GB RAM or 4 GB RAM. But the iPad Pro got 4 GB RAM back in 2017, got a variant with 6 GB RAM (top tier 1 TB model) back in 2018, BUT Air will have to wait at least another 2 years to get the 6 GB RAM.
Quantity of RAM makes a HUGE difference to the "useful" lifespan of an iPad with "good user experience". An iPad Pro with higher RAM will work properly and age much better than an iPad Air with less RAM. Contrary to your claim that Apple does not hold back - Apple does hold back to maximize their profits tomorrow, even to the extent of compromising the user experience with subsequent iOS versions slowing down the iPads variants with lower quantity RAM. Reality is that you are not paying attention to details where compromises are made which make a HUGE difference to the user experience.
Doesn't the iPad Pro have better video out than the new Air? If you want to run an external monitor off the Pro you can (at a higher res), whereas the Air can't?
@AppleInsider Guys its two separate articles now where you make the mistake of stating the 2020 iPad Air has two speakers. It has the same 4 speaker design as the iPad Pro except they are only advertised as operating in landscape
According to this comparison page, it's a two-speaker setup
I also have a two speaker set up with my HiFi.... between them they have 10 drivers. The iPad Air has four grills for a reason... I also pointed it out for a second reason being that most people will confuse the article for it containing the standard speaker set up of the normal iPad with the grills at the bottom in portrait mode. However we shall see upon tear down.
@AppleInsider Guys its two separate articles now where you make the mistake of stating the 2020 iPad Air has two speakers. It has the same 4 speaker design as the iPad Pro except they are only advertised as operating in landscape
According to this comparison page, it's a two-speaker setup
I also have a two speaker set up with my HiFi.... between them they have 10 drivers. The iPad Air has four grills for a reason... I also pointed it out for a second reason being that most people will confuse the article for it containing the standard speaker set up of the normal iPad with the grills at the bottom in portrait mode. However we shall see upon tear down.
Regards. Gabe
What are you talking about? Your HiFi system..what?
There are illustrations to help you understand the speaker set up for both devices. Simply put if the speaker setups were the same don't you think Apple would state that?
This iPad Air reflects Tim Cook's philosophy of not worrying about cannibalizing your own products. Apple obviously had the 5 nm technology in-hand and ready for market for the iPad Air 4 and made a conscious decision to put it in the next release to hit the market. They could have held back to further differentiate their marketing and sales strategy between the Air and the Pro, but no, they didn't. They did what is best for their customers and absorbed the risk of lost sales of the higher priced product.
Apple Silicon is on the rapidly rising part of the lifecycle curve and is going to be a tide raiser across all products that it impacts. Apple isn't going to nickel and dime their customers by holding back technology that they know will deliver better value for their customers today in an attempt to maximize their profits tomorrow. The net result is that there will be some specific leapfrogging taking place in some areas, especially CPU technology, and more severely when there is a staggered release schedule between products. The overall trend across all products will be that everything will continue to get elevated across the board over time and new releases but they are not going to hold back and ride their cash-cows for incremental profit deltas across products.
Technology companies that sweat the perceived threat of cannibalization and hold back on the release of capabilities that are already in-hand and ready to ship are the ones you should worry about. Apple, under Tim Cook, is not one of those companies. Once competitors get a whiff of what you're holding back on, you are a sitting duck.
Looks like you are NOT paying attention to the details. Apple is great at differentiating the products in different price segments extremely well and this year is no different. iPad Air 2019 has 3 GB of RAM. We are yet to get details on how much RAM the iPad Air 2020 version has. It is either 3 GB RAM or 4 GB RAM. But the iPad Pro got 4 GB RAM back in 2017, got a variant with 6 GB RAM (top tier 1 TB model) back in 2018, BUT Air will have to wait at least another 2 years to get the 6 GB RAM.
Quantity of RAM makes a HUGE difference to the "useful" lifespan of an iPad with "good user experience". An iPad Pro with higher RAM will work properly and age much better than an iPad Air with less RAM. Contrary to your claim that Apple does not hold back - Apple does hold back to maximize their profits tomorrow, even to the extent of compromising the user experience with subsequent iOS versions slowing down the iPads variants with lower quantity RAM. Reality is that you are not paying attention to details where compromises are made which make a HUGE difference to the user experience.
I respectfully disagree, but appreciate your opinion. I believe the new iPad Air will most definitely cannibalize sales from mainstream buyers who would otherwise have selected some configurations of the current iPad Pro family. The reality is that Apple does not even convey the amount of RAM included with each iPad configuration in their public facing product information. I see nothing in the Tech Specs for any iPad, iPad Air, or iPad Pro that says how much RAM is included.
If iPad RAM specs (capacity and speed) were a purchase-decision qualifier for the masses of iPad buyers this data point would be front and center at the time of purchase so consumers could easily factor this into their buying decision. I cannot speak for everyone, but I have never even considered the RAM spec on any iPad I have purchased. I've also never encountered any issues related to the amount of available RAM in any iPad, or any iPhone for that matter.
Yes, there are some people, like you, who care very deeply about RAM specs. This minority of buyers is obviously going to do much more digging and discovery before purchasing any iPad and will factor RAM specs into their decision. That's totally cool. But my point was all about cannibalization, and from a cannibalization standpoint there are front and center, widely advertised, and heavily touted purchase-decision-defining Tech Specs on the 2020 iPad Air that are going to steer some buyers who were otherwise considering a Pro to look at the new Air. And you know what? Time Cook doesn't care, and he's made his lack of concern about cannibalization very clear on numerous occasions, to the point of calling it "a huge opportunity." If anything at all can ever be put out there as an anti-venom for "nickel & dime" price gouging or as a bullet to the back of the head for cash cows, it's adopting a lack of concern about cannibalizing your own products.
The sweet spot for me would have been an Air with 128GB storage but as they don't do one of those, do I go for the 256GB Air (at £729) or the 128GB 11" Pro (at £769)?
The Air's graphics will not compare to the performance of the Z chip. So don't claim the A14 is faster when you have not seen it or done any benchmark reviews.
Gotta love your point that claims about A14 vs A12Z have to be backed up with yet-to-be-done benchmark comparisons... and then you proceed to baselessly claim that A14's graphic performance "will not compare" to A12Z. Maybe read your own post?
I have to think that an IPad Pro update is on the horizon sooner than later. For the time being, the Pro 11" and consumer-leaning Air 4 are significantly less differentiated than they usually are, making it tough to justify paying 33% more for the Pro, unless you must have more than 256GB, in which case the Pro is your only choice.
dewme said: But my point was all about cannibalization, and from a cannibalization standpoint there are front and center, widely advertised, and heavily touted purchase-decision-defining Tech Specs on the 2020 iPad Air that are going to steer some buyers who were otherwise considering a Pro to look at the new Air.
Near term, I think you're probably correct for buyers who absolutely need something right now. But that won't be the case when the A14X iPad Pro models release.
dewme said: But my point was all about cannibalization, and from a cannibalization standpoint there are front and center, widely advertised, and heavily touted purchase-decision-defining Tech Specs on the 2020 iPad Air that are going to steer some buyers who were otherwise considering a Pro to look at the new Air.
Near term, I think you're probably correct for buyers who absolutely need something right now. But that won't be the case when the A14X iPad Pro models release.
I completely agree, and Apple is going to make sure that everyone and his brother knows the new Pros have an A14X onboard.
Comments
The Air is for those that want to pretend they have Pro features, which they clearly do not. Making it have a full-size screen does not make it a Pro.
Exactly this! Both AI articles comparing the Air and the Pro intentionally left out this key information. Just because one processor is 'two numbers' higher than the other, does not make it faster. The A14 is lacking the high performance cores and has half the amount of graphics cores compared to the A12Z. Also, the fact that the Pro has the superior display with ProMotion, does not make the Air automatically faster. Stop pretending the new Air has better features than the Pro. It clearly doesn't. It might look like a Pro, but it isn't.
if an upgrade happens in late 2020. I assume it will only be to include the A14/A14X and a 5G modem to the cellular models.
Just a random different number means nothing, while when it refers to later generations it means that it gets complicated comparing them.
So the iPad Air has USB-C. I see that in the picture on Apple's website. But I only see one end of the cable. What's the other end that plugs into the computer? I presume USB-C. Or does it plug into an outlet charger like an iPhone does?
Finally, what is wrong with AI where I have to sign in like 3 times just to post a comment! It's been that way for months.
Looks like you are NOT paying attention to the details. Apple is great at differentiating the products in different price segments extremely well and this year is no different. iPad Air 2019 has 3 GB of RAM. We are yet to get details on how much RAM the iPad Air 2020 version has. It is either 3 GB RAM or 4 GB RAM. But the iPad Pro got 4 GB RAM back in 2017, got a variant with 6 GB RAM (top tier 1 TB model) back in 2018, BUT Air will have to wait at least another 2 years to get the 6 GB RAM.
Quantity of RAM makes a HUGE difference to the "useful" lifespan of an iPad with "good user experience". An iPad Pro with higher RAM will work properly and age much better than an iPad Air with less RAM. Contrary to your claim that Apple does not hold back - Apple does hold back to maximize their profits tomorrow, even to the extent of compromising the user experience with subsequent iOS versions slowing down the iPads variants with lower quantity RAM. Reality is that you are not paying attention to details where compromises are made which make a HUGE difference to the user experience.
Regards. Gabe
https://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/specs/
If iPad RAM specs (capacity and speed) were a purchase-decision qualifier for the masses of iPad buyers this data point would be front and center at the time of purchase so consumers could easily factor this into their buying decision. I cannot speak for everyone, but I have never even considered the RAM spec on any iPad I have purchased. I've also never encountered any issues related to the amount of available RAM in any iPad, or any iPhone for that matter.
Yes, there are some people, like you, who care very deeply about RAM specs. This minority of buyers is obviously going to do much more digging and discovery before purchasing any iPad and will factor RAM specs into their decision. That's totally cool. But my point was all about cannibalization, and from a cannibalization standpoint there are front and center, widely advertised, and heavily touted purchase-decision-defining Tech Specs on the 2020 iPad Air that are going to steer some buyers who were otherwise considering a Pro to look at the new Air. And you know what? Time Cook doesn't care, and he's made his lack of concern about cannibalization very clear on numerous occasions, to the point of calling it "a huge opportunity." If anything at all can ever be put out there as an anti-venom for "nickel & dime" price gouging or as a bullet to the back of the head for cash cows, it's adopting a lack of concern about cannibalizing your own products.
Decisions, decisions!
I have to think that an IPad Pro update is on the horizon sooner than later. For the time being, the Pro 11" and consumer-leaning Air 4 are significantly less differentiated than they usually are, making it tough to justify paying 33% more for the Pro, unless you must have more than 256GB, in which case the Pro is your only choice.