Home > Tablet comparison > Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018) vs Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022) – which one to choose?

iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018) vs iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022)

67 out of 100
Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
VS
74 out of 100
Apple iPad Air 10.9
iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022)

Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018) (with Apple A12X Bionic) that was released on October 30, 2018, against the Apple iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022), which is powered by Apple M1 (iPad) and came out 3 years and 4 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 2 inches larger screen size
  • Comes with 893 mAh larger battery capacity: 9720 vs 8827 mAh
  • Delivers 25% higher peak brightness (610 against 489 nits)
  • Thinner bezels – 5.4% more screen real estate
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Shows 16% longer battery life (32:09 vs 27:46 hours)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Much smaller footprint: 27% more compact case (68.5 vs 93.5 square inches)
  • 74% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2361 and 1358 points
  • Weighs 170 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018) and Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022) 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)

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
4 / 64 GB
VS
8 / 64 GB
85.0
(Very good)
Value Index
53.3
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Tablet:
iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
vs
iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022)

Display

Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Size 12.9 inches 10.9 inches
Resolution 2048 x 2732 pixels 1640 x 2360 pixels
Aspect ratio 4:3 3:2
PPI 265 ppi 264 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (24-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 600 nits 500 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10 No
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 85.5% 80.1%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.7% 99.5%
PWM Not detected Not detected
Response time 36 ms 28 ms
Contrast 1975:1 1430:1
Screen space comparison
iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
12.9″ (4:3 ratio) = 79.9 in2
iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022)
10.9″ (3:2 ratio) = 54.8 in2
~45% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 280.6 mm (11.05 inches) 247.6 mm (9.75 inches)
Width 214.9 mm (8.46 inches) 178.5 mm (7.03 inches)
Thickness 5.9 mm (0.23 inches) 6.1 mm (0.24 inches)
Weight 631 g (22.26 oz) 461 g (16.26 oz)
Waterproof No No
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Silver, Gray Gray, Blue, Pink, Purple, Rose gold
Fingerprint scanner No Yes, in-button
Area 603 cm2 (93.5 inches2) 442 cm2 (68.5 inches2)
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (78th and 53rd place)
iPad Ranking (19th and 15th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018) and Apple iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022)
SoC
Chipset Apple A12X Bionic Apple M1 (iPad)
Max clock 2500 MHz 3200 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 7-core Apple GPU 8-core
GPU clock - 1278 MHz
FLOPS - ~2617 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018) and Apple iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 33168
Single-core score 1358 2361
Multi-core score 4736 8704
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU - 663743
GPU - 683537
Memory - 247744
UX - 528742
Total score - 2123766
Samples Less than 3 [2 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 75%
Graphics test - 14 FPS
Graphics score - 1872
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability - 73%
Graphics test - 24 FPS
Section 1 - 30 FPS
Section 2 - 24 FPS
Section 3 - 17 FPS
Graphics score - 6277
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 72% 72%
Graphics test 19 FPS 29 FPS
Graphics score 3206 4924
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-16 -> op1Geekbench 6 CPU1344 / 4757
Add View all (1)
Apple iPad Air 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-04-08 (AL10)AnTuTu 112123766
📘 2026-03-09 (Arcia)AnTuTu 112008514
Add View all (2)

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 4 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2133 MHz 4266 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 64 GB 64 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iPadOS 12 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) iPadOS 15.4 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5)

Battery

Capacity 9720 mAh 8827 mAh
Max charge power 30 W 30 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 60 min) Yes (50% in 60 min)
Full charging time 2:45 hr 2:15 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:41 hr 08:29 hr
Watching video 12:15 hr 11:52 hr
Gaming 06:08 hr 06:24 hr
Standby 178 hr 233 hr
General battery life
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash Quad LED No
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 120 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode - Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 29 mm -
Sensor size 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 7 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3472 x 2063 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.4
Focal length 32 mm -
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- 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 3.1 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No 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 No Yes

Sound

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

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced October 2018 March 2022
Release date November 2018 March 2022
Launch price (MSRP) $999 $599
Successor - Apple iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024) - Apple iPad Air 11" (7th Gen, 2025)
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor		 - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Keyboard weight 710 g 609 g
Bundled charger Yes, 18 W Yes, 20 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 10.9" (5th Gen, 2022) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
3 (50%)
3 (50%)
Total votes: 6

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