Home > Tablet comparison > Apple iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024) vs Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018) – which one to choose?

iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024) vs iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)

89 out of 100
Apple iPad Pro 13
VS
67 out of 100
Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024)
iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)

Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 13-inch Apple iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024) (with Apple M4 (iPad)) that was released on May 7, 2024, against the Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018), which is powered by Apple A12X Bionic and came out 5 years and 7 months before. 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 13" (7th Gen, 2024)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Delivers 66% higher peak brightness (1010 against 607 nits)
  • Shows 13% longer battery life (31:29 vs 27:46 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 7500 MHz
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • OLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
  • 2.7x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3663 and 1358 points
  • Reverse charging feature
  • Weighs 52 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024) and Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018) 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
8 / 256 GB
VS
4 / 64 GB
30.8
(Mediocre)
Value Index
85.0
(Very good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Tablet:
iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024)
vs
iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)

Display

Type OLED IPS LCD
Size 13 inches 12.9 inches
Resolution 2064 x 2752 pixels 2048 x 2732 pixels
Aspect ratio 4:3 4:3
PPI 264 ppi 265 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (10-120 Hz) Yes (24-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1000 nits 600 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1600 nits -
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 86.2% 85.5%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% 99.7%
PWM 240 Hz Not detected
Response time 2 ms 36 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 1975:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 281.6 mm (11.09 inches) 280.6 mm (11.05 inches)
Width 215.5 mm (8.48 inches) 214.9 mm (8.46 inches)
Thickness 5.1 mm (0.2 inches) 5.9 mm (0.23 inches)
Weight 579 g (20.42 oz) 631 g (22.26 oz)
Waterproof No No
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver Silver, Gray
Fingerprint scanner No No
Area 607 cm2 (94 inches2) 603 cm2 (93.5 inches2)
Repairability Average (2.7/5) -
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (8th and 75th place)
iPad Ranking (3rd and 19th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024) and Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
SoC
Chipset Apple M4 (iPad) Apple A12X Bionic
Max clock 4400 MHz 2500 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) -
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.85 GHz:
- 4 cores at 4.41 GHz: 		-
Manufacturing TSMC -
Lithography process 3 nanometers -
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine -
GPU
Graphics Apple GPU 10-core Apple GPU 7-core
GPU clock 1470 MHz -
FLOPS ~3763.2 GFLOPS -

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024) and Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 53792 -
Single-core score 3663 1358
Multi-core score 11376 4736
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 1521099 -
GPU 945613 -
Memory 257529 -
UX 590286 -
Total score 3314527 -
Samples Less than 3 Less than 3
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 74% -
Graphics test 26 FPS -
Graphics score 3507 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test 54 FPS -
Section 1 63 FPS -
Section 2 56 FPS -
Section 3 43 FPS -
Graphics score 14286 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 72%
Graphics test - 19 FPS
Graphics score - 3206
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2024-07-10 (Vlad)GeekBench CPU3663 / 13353
Add View all (1)
Apple iPad Pro 12.9” (3rd Gen, 2018)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-16 -> op1GeekBench CPU1344 / 4757
Add View all (1)

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 7500 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 64 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iPadOS 17.5 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) iPadOS 12 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5)
OS size 37 GB -
OS updates 5 years -

Battery

Capacity 10340 mAh 9720 mAh
Max charge power 30 W 30 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 38 min) Yes (50% in 60 min)
Full charging time 2:20 hr 2:45 hr
Battery cycles 1000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:59 hr 08:41 hr
Watching video 17:16 hr 12:15 hr
Gaming 07:49 hr 06:08 hr
Standby 174 hr 178 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 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) 120 FPS (1080p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Depth
1) Standard: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - 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)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
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
Focal length - 32 mm
Sensor CMOS -
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 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 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 No
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
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 May 2024 October 2018
Release date May 2024 November 2018
Launch price (MSRP) $1299 $999
Successor - - Apple iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024)
Sensors - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Face recognition sensor		 - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Keyboard weight 662 g 710 g
Bundled charger Yes, 20 W Yes, 18 W
Further details
Notes on iPad Pro 13" (7th Gen, 2024):
    - The base versions with 256 or 512 GB come with 8 GB of RAM and have a 9-core CPU, while 1 TB and 2 TB models have 16 GB RAM and a 10-core CPU (about 14% faster in multi-core tests).
*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 13" (7th Gen, 2024) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
16 (64%)
9 (36%)
Total votes: 25

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