Apple IPad Air 13" (2024) vs iPad 10.2" (8th Gen, 2020)

Here we compared two tablets: the 13-inch Apple IPad Air 13" (2024) (with Apple M2 (iPad)) that was released on May 7, 2024, against the Apple iPad 10.2" (8th Gen, 2020), which is powered by Apple A12 Bionic and came out 3 years and 8 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the Apple IPad Air 13" (2024)
  • 2.8x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2536K versus 895K)
  • Has 2.7x more RAM: 8GB versus 3GB
  • Has a 2.8 inches larger screen size
  • Comes with 1513 mAh larger battery capacity: 10340 vs 8827 mAh
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Thinner bezels – 13% more screen real estate
  • Delivers 30% higher peak brightness (587 against 451 nits)
  • Ability to record video in 4K resolution
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 6400 MHz
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Supports higher wattage charging (30W versus 12W)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad 10.2" (8th Gen, 2020)
  • Much smaller footprint: 28% more compact case (67.6 vs 93.5 square inches)
  • Weighs 127 grams less
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Apple IPad Air 13" (2024) and iPad 10.2" (8th Gen, 2020) crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
3 / 32 GB
58.0
(Average)
Value Index
132.1
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Size 13 inches 10.2 inches
Resolution 2048 x 2732 pixels 1620 x 2160 pixels
Aspect ratio 4:3 4:3
PPI 264 ppi 264 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 600 nits 500 nits
HDR support No No
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 86.8% 73.8%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.7% 96.1%
PWM Not detected Not detected
Response time 45 ms 30 ms
Contrast 1018:1 954:1
Screen space comparison
IPad Air 13" (2024)
13″ (4:3 ratio) = 81.1 in2
iPad 10.2" (8th Gen, 2020)
10.2″ (4:3 ratio) = 49.9 in2
~62% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 280.6 mm (11.05 inches) 250.6 mm (9.87 inches)
Width 214.9 mm (8.46 inches) 174.1 mm (6.85 inches)
Thickness 6.1 mm (0.24 inches) 7.5 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 617 g (21.76 oz) 490 g (17.28 oz)
Waterproof No No
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple Silver, Gold, Gray
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button Yes, in-button
Area 603 cm2 (93.5 inches2) 436 cm2 (67.6 inches2)
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (35th and 115th place)
iPad Ranking (10th and 27th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple IPad Air 13" (2024) and Apple iPad 10.2" (8th Gen, 2020)
SoC
Chipset Apple M2 (iPad) Apple A12 Bionic
Max clock 3490 MHz 2500 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Blizzard
- 4 cores at 3.49 GHz: Avalanche
- 4 cores at 1.6 GHz: Tempest
- 2 cores at 2.49 GHz: Vortex
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 5 nanometers 7 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Apple GPU 10-core Apple GPU 4-core
GPU shading units 1024 256
GPU clock 1398 MHz 1125 MHz
FLOPS ~2863.1 GFLOPS ~576 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple IPad Air 13" (2024) and Apple iPad 10.2" (8th Gen, 2020)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 43561 -
Single-core score 2585 1338
Multi-core score 10090 2903
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 841074 309104
GPU 801119 144993
Memory 371059 139578
UX 523068 301952
Total score 2536320 895627
Samples Less than 3 Less than 3
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 74% -
Graphics test 17 FPS -
Graphics score 2299 -
Graphics test 30 FPS -
Section 1 38 FPS -
Section 2 30 FPS -
Section 3 20 FPS -
Graphics score 7827 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 85%
Graphics test - 8 FPS
Graphics score - 1427
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 8 GB 3 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 6400 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 32 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iPadOS 17.5 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) iPadOS 14 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5)
OS size 13 GB 14 GB

Battery

Capacity 10340 mAh 8827 mAh
Max charge power 30 W 12 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes No
Full charging time 2:30 hr 4:20 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 12:05 hr 09:12 hr
Watching video 11:26 hr 12:27 hr
Gaming 07:56 hr 06:23 hr
Standby 167 hr 198 hr
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 -
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS No
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 120 FPS (720p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
1) Standard: 8 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode -
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/2.4
Focal length - 31 mm
Pixel size 1.22 micron -
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 1.2 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 -
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.2
Focal length - 31 mm
Sensor CMOS -
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital No
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 720p at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 4.2
Bluetooth features LE -
USB type USB Type-C No
USB version 3.1 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
DisplayPort Yes No
GPS GPS, GLONASS GPS, GLONASS
NFC* No No
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* - 1
Type of SIM card eSIM Nano
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 12
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No Yes
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced May 2024 September 2020
Release date May 2024 September 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $329
Successor - Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025) - Apple iPad 11" (11th Gen, 2025)
Sensors - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Keyboard weight - 400 g
Bundled charger Yes, 20 W Yes, 10 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple IPad Air 13" (2024) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

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1 (50%)
1 (50%)
Total votes: 2

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