Apple’s recently released M2 iPad Air packs modest upgrades over its predecessor and the same processor as 2022’s M2 iPad Pro. How do the two Apple tablets with identical M2 chips compare? Find out in our M2 iPad Pro vs. M2 iPad Air comparison.
While the new midrange tablet seems tempting, an iPad Air is still an Air, not a Pro.
M2 iPad Air vs. M2 iPad Pro comparison: Battle of M2s!
The M2 iPad Air debuted almost 18 months after the M2 iPad Pro. Yet, it features nearly the same design and internals as that pro tablet, albeit at a lower price tag. If you already own the M2 iPad Pro, should you upgrade to the 2024 iPad Air? Or are the two tablets so identical that you should save your money and avoid upgrading to the new Air?
Table of contents: M2 iPad Pro vs. M2 iPad Air
- Design: Identical
- Display: No more Mini-LED
- Performance: M2 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air run on the same chip
- Camera: M2 iPad Air ditches the Ultrawide
- Connectivity: No Thunderbolt in M2 iPad Air
- Battery life: No difference between M2 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air
- M2 iPad Air vs. M2 iPad Pro conclusion: Don’t ditch the Pro
Design: Identical
- M2 11-inch iPad Pro: 247.6 x 178.5 x 5.9 mm, 466 grams (Wi-Fi)/ 470 grams (cellular), Face ID, four-speaker audio, five studio-quality microphones
- M2 11-inch iPad Air: 247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1 mm, 462 grams (Wi-Fi)/462 grams (cellular), Touch ID, landscape stereo speakers, two microphones
- M2 12.9-inch iPad Pro: 280.6 x 214.9 x 6.4mm, 682 grams (Wi-Fi)/ 685 grams (cellular), Face ID, four-speaker audio, five studio-quality microphones
- M2 13-inch iPad Air: 280.6 x 214.9 x 6.1 mm, 617 grams (Wi-Fi)/618 grams (cellular), Touch ID, landscape stereo speakers, two microphones
The M2 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air have nearly the same dimensions. Despite this, the M2 iPad Air models are slightly easier to carry than the Pro models. The 11-inch model iPad Air weighs about 4 grams less and is 0.02mm thinner than the Pro, while the 13-inch is 65 grams lighter and 0.3mm thinner.
From a design standpoint, the M2 iPad Air has two drawbacks over its Pro sibling. It packs two landscape-oriented stereo speakers, which are not as loud as the iPad Pro’s four-speaker setup. For biometric authentication, the M2 iPad Air comes with Touch ID, integrated into the tablet’s side button, while the M2 iPad Pro boasts Face ID.
Display: No more Mini-LED
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
- M2 11-inch iPad Pro: 11-inch Liquid Retina display, LED-backlit, ProMotion, 2,388 x 1,668 resolution, 600 nits SDR brightness, supports Apple Pencil 2 and Apple Pencil USB-C as well as Apple Pencil’s hover feature
- M2 11-inch iPad Air: 11-inch Liquid Retina display, 2,360 x 1,640 resolution, 500 nits SDR brightness, supports new Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil USB-C as well as Apple Pencil’s hover feature
- M2 12.9-inch iPad Pro: 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, Mini-LED backlit, ProMotion, 2,732 x 2,048 resolution, 600 nits SDR brightness, supports Apple Pencil 2 and Apple Pencil USB-C as well as Apple Pencil’s hover feature
- M2 13-inch iPad Air: 13-inch Liquid Retina display, 2,732 x 2,048 resolution, 600 nits SDR brightness, supports new Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil USB-C as well as Apple Pencil’s hover feature
The big difference when pitting the M2 iPad Pro versus the M2 iPad Air is the tablets’ display technologies. On the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Apple uses a Liquid Retina XDR display with a Mini-LED panel. Its SDR brightness is 600 nits and HDR brightness peaks at 1,600 nits. The 13-inch iPad Air uses a traditional LCD panel, whose brightness maxes out at 600 nits.
12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro’s Mini-LED display is an outlier
Apple always uses quality display panels on its devices. But the 12.9-inch iPad Pro’s Mini-LED screen uses superior technology to deliver better colors, contrast and accuracy. It’s not as nice as the new Tandem OLED display in the M4 iPad Pros, but it’s still nicer than an LCD.
The smaller 11-inch iPad Pro and iPad Air use the same Liquid Retina LCD panel. So, visually, there’s no quality difference between the two. However, the smaller iPad Pro’s display can reach a slightly higher brightness level of 600 nits — that’s 100 nits more than the 11-inch iPad Air.
ProMotion and Apple Pencil
Another area where the Air trails the Pro is its lack of ProMotion support. Its display only refreshes at 60Hz, while the M2 iPad Pro can dynamically adjust its display refresh rate between 10 and 120Hz for better battery life and smoothness.
The M2 iPad Air does trump the M2 iPad Pro in one aspect: It supports the new Apple Pencil Pro. Apple’s 2022 flagship tablet only works with the Apple Pencil 2 and its USB-C sibling. (The M2 iPad Airs also support the Apple Pencil USB-C, and all of these tablets support Apple Pencil’s hover feature.)
Unlike the M4 iPad Pro, you cannot get the M2 iPad Pro or iPad Air with a nano-texture glass.
Performance: M2 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air run on the same chip
Screenshot: Apple
- M2 iPad Pro: M2 chip, eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 8GB RAM, 128GB to 1TB storage options, H.264 and HEVC video encode/decode engine
- M2 iPad Air: M2 chip, eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 8GB RAM, 128GB to 1TB storage options, H.264 and HEVC video encode/decode engine
As mentioned, both the 2022 iPad Pro and the 2024 iPad Air use Apple’s M2 chip. Fabricated on TSMC’s second-gen 5nm node, this SoC packs 20 billion transistors and offers 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth.
While not the fastest or newest, the M2 chip packs enough power to run the best iPadOS apps and games. You can even use Delta to play retro games on your iPad. This is all thanks to the 10-core GPU, which Apple claims delivers 25% better performance than the M1.
Unlike the M3 and M4’s GPU, though, the two M2 iPad models both miss out on hardware ray tracing support. And while there’s a dedicated Media Engine for hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC and ProRes encode/decode, the M2 does not support 8K resolution.
Camera: M2 iPad Air ditches the Ultrawide
Photo: Apple
- M2 iPad Pro: Rear – 12MP Wide camera, f/1.8 aperture, 10MP Ultra Wide, f/2.4 aperture, Smart HDR 4, 4K60fps recording, ProRes at 4K30fps, LiDAR; Front – 12MP Ultra Wide TrueDepth camera, f/2.4 aperture, Center Stage, Retina Flash with True Tone
- M2 iPad Air: Rear – 12MP Wide camera, f/1.8 aperture, Smart HDR 4, 4K60fps recording; Front – 12MP Landscape Ultra Wide camera, f/2.4 aperture, Center Stage, Retina Flash
With the M2 iPad Pro, you get a dual-camera setup at the rear: a 12MP primary wide and a 10MP Ultra Wide. On the M2 iPad Air, there’s only the 12MP primary camera. Still, unless you use an iPad to take pictures or record videos, you won’t miss the Ultra Wide camera if you buy the Air.
More importantly, the M2 iPad Air houses the 12MP front camera in landscape orientation. This makes it a much better device than the M2 iPad Pro for hosting online classes and FaceTime calls. Both tablets support Apple’s brilliant Center Stage feature, so the camera follows participants around during video calls.
Connectivity: No Thunderbolt on M2 iPad Air
- M2 iPad Pro: Wi-Fi 6E, MIMO, Bluetooth 5.3, 5G, Gigabit LTE (up to 32 bands), Thunderbolt/USB 4, nano-SIM, eSIM, Smart Connector
- M2 iPad Air: Wi-Fi 6E, MIMO, Bluetooth 5.3, 5G, Gigabit LTE (up to 31 bands), USB-C, eSIM, Smart Connector
The M2 iPad Air and iPad Pro provide almost the same connectivity options. You get nearly everything you can ask for: Wi-Fi 6E, a USB-C port and 5G cellular. However, one feature missing on the iPad Air is Thunderbolt support. So, the tablet’s USB-C port won’t support transferring data at 40Gbps speeds. Plus, even when you connect high-bandwidth accessories, you’ll be limited to 10Gb/s speeds.
Apple also switched entirely to eSIM on its 2024 iPad Air/Pro lineup. So, if you need a physical SIM slot, the M2 iPad Pro is your only option.
Battery life: No difference between M2 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air
- M2 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air: Up to 10 hours of video playback or Wi-Fi surfing, nine hours of web surfing on mobile data
- M2 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro: Up to 10 hours of video playback or Wi-Fi surfing, nine hours of web surfing on mobile data
Unsurprisingly, the M2 iPad Pro and the M2 iPad Air deliver the same battery life, according to Apple. You can expect up to 10 hours of video playback or Wi-Fi surfing. Your runtime may vary based on how hard you push the tablet. But with casual use and note-taking, all-day battery life won’t be a problem.
M2 iPad Air vs. M2 iPad Pro conclusion: Don’t ditch the Pro
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
- M2 11-inch iPad Pro: Started at $799
- M2 11-inch iPad Air: Starts at $599 (Wi-Fi) or $749 (cellular)
- M2 12.9-inch iPad Pro: Started at $1,099 (Wi-Fi)
- M2 13-inch iPad Air: Starts at $799 (Wi-Fi) or $949 (cellular)
The M2 iPad Air is notably cheaper than the M2 iPad Pro. But for that lower price, it misses out on Pro features like a mini-LED display, 120Hz ProMotion support, Face ID and Thunderbolt connectivity.
If you own the M2 iPad Pro, there’s no reason to upgrade to the 2024 Air, as you will lose some features. Instead, you should stick to your M2 iPad Pro for the foreseeable future. And if you are in the market for a new iPad and can get the M2 iPad Pro with a huge discount, you should choose it over the M2 iPad Air.
M2 iPad Pro
Buy from: Amazon
M2 iPad Air
Buy from: Amazon
