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Apple offers a wide range of iPad tablets, each with their own key strengths and weaknesses. While the likes of the iPad and iPad Pro may look similar on the outside, there are actually so many differences that they serve completely different audiences.
We’ve created this comparison guide to explain how the iPad and iPad Pro ranges differ, and which is best suited for your needs and requirements. Note that this guide will be judging the tablet ranges as a whole rather than focusing solely on specific models, although we will put more focus on the latest editions currently for sale on Apple’s store.
For a quick summary, the standard iPad is the most affordable tablet in Apple’s range, and so is designed for the average consumer who just wants to browse the web, stream video and play the odd game. It features the same grade chip as what you’d find in an iPhone, so expect more smartphone performance than laptop.
Meanwhile, the iPad Pro is significantly more expensive, but for good reason. It has a more luxurious design and screen, but most importantly, it has a laptop-grade performance that could even challenge the MacBook Pro. This means that this laptop is best suited to pro-grade creation such as photo/video editing.
Keep reading on for a more detailed breakdown of the two tablets, as we highlight the main differences and what kind of benefits you’ll gain from going for the more expensive option.
Price
There’s a significant gulf in price between these two laptops, to such an extent that they serve completely different audiences.
The iPad is Apple’s entry-level tablet and has a price tag to match. The iPad 10 is priced at just £349/$349 following a recent price cut. Apple now longer sells the preceding iPad 9
The iPad Pro range is very much a premium option in the tablet world, with the most recent 11-inch iPad Pro starting at £999/$999 while the 13-inch model starts at £1299/$299. It has more advanced features, better accessory support and a faster performance to justify the price, but it’s still an expensive tablet no matter how you frame it.
Design and screen
Though the iPad and iPad Pro once boasted the same design, the two began to diverge with the release of the fourth-generation iPad Pro range. With it came a complete redesign of the chassis, going from rounded edges to something more angular and industrial, reminiscent of Apple’s iPhone 5 design.
It also introduced enhanced support for accessories with new magnets and a smart connector on the rear of the iPad, but that’s something we discuss in more detail a little later on.
It’s actually a design philosophy that trickled down to most other Apple products, from the iPhone to the iPad Air, iPad mini and even the latest iPad 10, but for the most part, the entry-level iPad looked nearly identical up to the release of the iPad 9.
Sure, it has had tweaks to make it thinner and lighter, but it broadly looks the same. Admittedly, It looks a little dated in 2024, but it won’t impact the core iPad experience too much.
It’s not just the design either; the iPad range features a smaller display than the iPad Pro range. The iPad measured in at 9.7 inches initially, though it increased to 10.2 inches with the iPad 7, and the latest iPad 10 pushes that even further up to 10.8 inches. It’s a decent size, allowing you to make the most of a large display while still being portable enough to throw into a rucksack.
iPad Pro – Credit: Apple
The iPad Pro range, on the other hand, has always had larger screens. The display’s actual dimensions depend on the generation of iPad Pro – it started off with a combination of 9.7 inches and 12.9 inches, though the latest model now offers 11-inch and and 13-inch sizes.
While the iPad Pro may be larger than the entry-level iPad, it’s actually thinner believe it or not. The new 11-inch iPad Pro is just 5.3mm thick, compared to the 7mm iPad. This also makes the Pro the lighter option, hitting the scales at just 444g, compared to the 477g weight of the iPad.
The iPad Pro range also boasts Apple’s ProMotion tech, which delivers a super smooth 120Hz refresh rate – a feature exclusive to the iPad Pro in the iPad collection. The latest model of iPad Pro has also made the jump to a new technology that Apples calls Tandem OLED, which effectively stacks multiple OLED panels together in order to achieve a stunning 1000-nit brightness for SDR content, and up to 1600 nits with HDR activated. With the standard iPad 10 only capable of 500 nits, this means the Pro is twice as bright, making it easier to view in harsh sunlight.
Importantly for creators, the iPad Pro promises superior colour accuracy to the standard iPad, to such an extent that it’s ideal for professional creators who crave perfection.
Performance
The performance is the true differentiator between these two tablets.
The entry-level iPad range offers entry-level performance in the form of older iPhone chipsets. Though specifics depend on the iPad in question, as a rule of thumb, the iPad tends to feature the same chipset as a two- or three-generation-old iPhone.
2021’s iPad 9 sports the same A13 Bionic as 2019’s iPhone 11, for example, while the latest iPad 10 sports the same A14 Bionic as the iPhone 12 range.
That makes no difference when compared to the iPad Pro, however. As Apple’s pro-level tablet focused on creative professionals, it should be no surprise that the iPad Pro boasts the best performance possible.
In earlier iPads, that would come in the form of modified iPhone chipsets with additional CPU and GPU cores to get better performance than even flagship iPhones, though that trend changed with the introduction of Apple’s M-series silicon on the 2021 iPad Pro.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
The M1 and M2 chipsets used in the newer models of iPad Pro are the same as those used in Apple’s iMac, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines, offering a serious boost to performance that allows them to outcompete some fully-fledged laptops.
The latest iPad Pro is now powered by the Apple M4 chip, making the tablet even faster than the current MacBook Air, and around the same level as a base MacBook Pro. Not only does it pack a lot of processing power, but also powerful graphics for gaming and content creation, as well as a super-speedy AI performance to future-proof it for years to come.
Though there may be some parity in performance between the oldest iPad Pros and the newest iPad, generally speaking, the iPad Pro will always be much more powerful than any other iPad in Apple’s collection.
Accessories
Accessory support is another key area of differentiation between the iPad and iPad Pro ranges, though the iPad 10’s halfway-house support has muddied the waters.
Let’s start with the iPad Pro range; ever since the release of 2020’s iPad Pro range, the pro-level tablets have offered support for the Magic Keyboard. It’s a game-changing accessory that essentially turns the tablet into a laptop with a large keyboard, a trackpad and an adjustable hinge.
It’s very much a premium accessory, but it’s a worthy purchase if you’re looking for a laptop replacement. The latest version of the Magic Keyboard also has a larger glass trackpad, a new function row and USB-C passthrough, making it feel just like a laptop keyboard.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
It also boasts support for the newer second-gen Apple Pencil, which, in addition to better ergonomics, snaps onto the side of the iPad Pro to charge. This is a much more convenient way to charge compared to the first-gen stylus, which had to be plugged directly into the iPad’s Lightning port.
The new Apple Pencil Pro offers even more advanced features for iPad Pro, including features like squeeze, barrel roll and haptic feedback.
Apple Pencil Pro – Credit: Apple
The entry-level iPad range, on the other hand, supports the first-gen Apple Pencil – it has done so since the iPad 6 – and Apple offers a keyboard folio case that makes text entry much easier. The iPad 10 takes the typing experience up a notch with support for the Magic Keyboard (albeit not the latest one).
It, however, doesn’t offer the same support for the second-gen Apple Pencil as the iPad Pro. Instead, it supports the first-gen Pencil like the rest of the iPad collection, though unlike its predecessors with a Lightning port, you’ll need a Lightning-to-USB-C adapter to charge the Apple Pencil on the iPad 10.
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