Home > Tablet comparison > Apple iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021) vs Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020) – which one to choose?

iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021) vs iPad Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020)

77 out of 100
Apple iPad Pro 11
VS
67 out of 100
Apple iPad Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020)
iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021)
iPad Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020)

Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 11-inch Apple iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021) (with Apple M1 (iPad)) that was released on April 20, 2021, against the Apple iPad Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020), which is powered by Apple A12Z Bionic and came out 2 years and 1 month before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments (1)

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • 78% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2420 and 1359 points

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021) and Pro 11” (2nd 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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

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Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
6 / 128 GB
69.5
(Good)
Value Index
36.5
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Tablet:
iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021)
vs
iPad Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020)

Display

Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Size 11 inches 11 inches
Resolution 1668 x 2388 pixels 1668 x 2388 pixels
Aspect ratio 3:2 3:2
PPI 265 ppi 265 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (24-120 Hz) Yes (24-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 600 nits 600 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision No
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 81.5% 81.5%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 99.9%
PWM Not detected 1316 Hz
Response time 30 ms 38 ms
Contrast 1425:1 1714:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 247.6 mm (9.75 inches) 247.6 mm (9.75 inches)
Width 178.5 mm (7.03 inches) 178.5 mm (7.03 inches)
Thickness 5.9 mm (0.23 inches) 5.9 mm (0.23 inches)
Weight 466 g (16.44 oz) 471 g (16.61 oz)
Waterproof No No
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Silver, Gray Silver, Gray
Fingerprint scanner No No
Area 442 cm2 (68.5 inches2) 442 cm2 (68.5 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (42nd and 79th place)
iPad Ranking (13th and 20th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021) and Apple iPad Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020)
SoC
Chipset Apple M1 (iPad) Apple A12Z Bionic
Max clock 3200 MHz 2500 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) -
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.1 GHz: Icestorm
- 4 cores at 3.2 GHz: Firestorm		 -
Manufacturing TSMC -
Lithography process 5 nanometers -
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine -
GPU
Graphics Apple GPU 8-core Apple GPU 8-core
GPU clock 1278 MHz -
FLOPS ~2617 GFLOPS -

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021) and Apple iPad Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Single-core score 2420 1359
Multi-core score 8793 4679
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 629472 -
GPU 687856 -
Memory 214672 -
UX 495700 -
Total score 2027700 -
Samples Less than 3 Less than 3
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 77% -
Graphics test 15 FPS -
Graphics score 1965 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability 83% -
Graphics test 24 FPS -
Section 1 30 FPS -
Section 2 24 FPS -
Section 3 19 FPS -
Graphics score 6406 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 76% 67%
Graphics test 30 FPS 21 FPS
Graphics score 5045 3517
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPad Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-24 -> op1GeekBench CPU2420 / 8793
📘 2026-04-18 (Avacada)GeekBench CPU2385 / 8775
📘 2026-01-09 (Rift)AnTuTu2027700
Add View all (3)
Apple iPad Pro 11” (2nd Gen, 2020)
No benchmark results yet
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Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 4266 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iPadOS 14.5.1 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) iPadOS 13.4 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5)
OS size 13.7 GB 13 GB

Battery

Capacity 7538 mAh 7538 mAh
Max charge power 30 W 30 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 60 min) Yes (34% in 30 min)
Full charging time 2:00 hr 1:53 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:24 hr 08:43 hr
Watching video 11:59 hr 11:59 hr
Gaming 05:57 hr 05:43 hr
Standby 171 hr 167 hr
General battery life
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 -
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash Quad LED Quad LED
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 125° 125°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Ultrawide: 10 MP
3) Depth
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Ultrawide: 10 MP
3) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Sensor size 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 10 MP 10 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Focal length - 11 mm
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 7 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 3472 x 2063
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.2
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 4.0 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS GPS, GLONASS
NFC* No No
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 18 18
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers 4.0 4.0
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced April 2021 March 2019
Release date May 2021 March 2019
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $799
Successor - Apple iPad Pro 11" (5th Gen, 2024) - Apple iPad Pro 11" (5th Gen, 2024)
Sensors - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor		 - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Keyboard weight 600 g 600 g
Bundled charger Yes, 20 W Yes, 18 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 Pro 11" (3rd Gen, 2021) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
25 (73.5%)
9 (26.5%)
Total votes: 34

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User opinions

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Baby jesus June 4, 2026 at 07:58 PM
iPad Pro 2020 si the best✌️
0 Reply
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