Honor MagicPad 2 12.3 vs Apple IPad Air 13" (2024)
69
out of 100
VS
80
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 12.3-inch Honor MagicPad 2 12.3 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3) that was released on July 12, 2024, against the Apple IPad Air 13" (2024), which is powered by Apple M2 (iPad) and came out 2 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Honor MagicPad 2 12.3
- Higher display refresh rate – 144 Hz
- Supports higher wattage charging (66W versus 30W)
- Delivers 16% higher peak brightness (686 against 591 nits)
- OLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
- Much smaller footprint: 18% more compact case (76.7 vs 93.5 square inches)
- 10% higher pixel density (290 vs 264 PPI)
- Reverse charging feature
- Weighs 62 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple IPad Air 13" (2024)
- Shows 47% longer battery life (29:14 vs 19:54 hours)
- 41% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2536K versus 1795K)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 6400 MHz
- Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
- 29% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2585 and 2004 points
Review
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | IPS LCD |
| Size | 12.3 inches | 13 inches |
| Resolution | 1920 x 3000 pixels | 2048 x 2732 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 3:2 | 4:3 |
| PPI | 290 ppi | 264 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 144 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (60-144 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 650 nits | 600 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1600 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | No |
| Screen protection | Tempered glass | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 90.9% | 86.8% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 98.4% | 99.7% |
| PWM | 90 Hz | Not detected |
| Response time | 5 ms | 45 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | 1018:1 |
Screen space comparison
IPad Air 13" (2024)
13″ (4:3 ratio) = 81.1 in2
MagicPad 2 12.3
12.3″ (3:2 ratio) = 69.8 in2
~16% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 274.5 mm (10.81 inches) | 280.6 mm (11.05 inches) |
| Width | 180.5 mm (7.11 inches) | 214.9 mm (8.46 inches) |
| Thickness | 5.8 mm (0.23 inches) | 6.1 mm (0.24 inches) |
| Weight | 555 g (19.58 oz) | 617 g (21.76 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | No |
| Rear material | Metal | Metal |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Blue | Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | No | Yes, in-button |
| Area | 495 cm2 (76.9 inches2) | 603 cm2 (93.5 inches2) |
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (64th and 35th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (#47th place)
iPad Ranking (#10th place)
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 | Apple M2 (iPad) |
| Max clock | 3000 MHz | 3490 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 4 + 3) | 8 (4 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A520 - 4 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A720 - 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X4 |
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Blizzard - 4 cores at 3.49 GHz: Avalanche |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Adreno 735 | Apple GPU 10-core |
| GPU shading units | 768 | 1024 |
| GPU clock | 1100 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1689.6 GFLOPS | ~2863.1 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | - | 43561 |
| Single-core score | 2004 | 2585 |
| Multi-core score | 5461 | 10090 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 565484 | 841074 |
| GPU | 488270 | 801119 |
| Memory | 318468 | 371059 |
| UX | 423155 | 523068 |
| Total score | 1795377 | 2536320 |
| Samples | [201 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 91% | 74% |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | 17 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1089 | 2299 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | 20 FPS | 30 FPS |
| Section 1 | 23 FPS | 38 FPS |
| Section 2 | 20 FPS | 30 FPS |
| Section 3 | 17 FPS | 20 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5148 | 7827 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 17800 | - |
| Video editing | 8040 | - |
| Photo editing | 29384 | - |
| Data manipulation | 13941 | - |
| Writing score | 19204 | - |
Memory
Configuration
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | 6400 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | iPadOS 17.5 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) |
| ROM | MagicOS 10 | - |
| OS size | 29 GB | 13 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 10050 mAh | 10340 mAh |
| Max charge power | 66 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (35% in 30 min) | Yes |
| Full charging time | 1:46 hr | 2:30 hr |
| Web browsing | 05:53 hr | 12:05 hr |
| Watching video | 09:22 hr | 11:26 hr |
| Gaming | 05:56 hr | 07:56 hr |
| Standby | 124 hr | 167 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 13 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4160 x 3120 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | - | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 13 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - | - Bokeh mode |
| Image resolution | 13 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/1.8 |
| Pixel size | - | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 9 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Sensor | - | CMOS |
| 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 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes | Yes |
| GPS | - | GPS, GLONASS |
| NFC* | No | No |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Type of SIM card | No | eSIM |
| eSIM support* | - | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | - | No |
| 5G support | No | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | 8.0 | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | No | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | July 2024 | May 2024 |
| Release date | October 2024 | May 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $599 | $799 |
| Successor | - Honor MagicPad 3 | - Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025) |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Accelerometer |
- Barometer - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 66 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 13" (2024) is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 23