Though the iPad Air 2 was launched way back in 2014, it is still one of the hottest and most versatile tablets in the market. With 9.7 inches of screen and price tag that flickers in range of 440 EUR, Apple iPad Air 2 still manages to hold its own against latest entrants like Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 and iPad Pro series. Obviously, it blistered through the competition when it was released and claimed the top spot in the mid-sized tab segment. Yes, tabs reaching up to 10 inches are now mid-sized considering the array of 10 and 12 inchers released both by Apple and Samsung that mimic laptops and netbooks with their magnetic keyboard.
For most folks, the iPad Air series is the perfect balance of portability and functionality; one of the versatile gadgets that looks fashionable and delivers a punchy performance. The range of genuine leather iPad Air 2 cases can match your classic brown and black office wear.
But with a whole bunch of Pro series claiming to be new kingpins of tablets, should you upgrade your iPad Air 2? To answer that let’s look at what the Pro Series iPads have to offer that iPad Air 2 lacks.
Sharper Screen
That’s one area that will be most obvious when you see your friend’s iPad Pro 9.7 or 10.5 or even 12. The screen has got much, much sharper in two years, but ironically ppi density has remained the same, in case of iPad Pro 9.7. The difference-maker is Apple’s True Tone Display.
Faster Next-gen Processor and Increased Storage
Though Apple decided to go with 2 GB RAM for 9.7-inch variant of Pro and opted for a 2 GB bump (4 GB RAM) in iPad Pro 10.5, both the 9.7 and 10.5 variants got latest and greatest A9X and A10X Fusion chips respectively. Also, the minimum storage capacity for iPad Pro 9.7 is 32 GBs, while for 10.5 it is 64 GBs, unlike the measly 16 GBs found in iPad Air 2.
Improved Camera and Speakers
Apple improved the camera on Pro series massively. Not only they upped the mega pixels from 8 MP to 12 MP, on both iPad Pro 9.7 and 10.5, but also increased the size of pixels, thus improving color reproduction and low light performance. Not to mention, the newer cameras come with 4K video recording capabilities and simultaneous image capture.
Same story goes for the front facing cameras, which are improved from 1.2 MP to 5 MP for iPad Pro 9.7 and 7 MP for 10.5. Both new iterations come with capability of recording 1080p videos at 30 fps, that’s not too shabby for a tablet.
Additionally, for multimedia lovers, Apple ditched stereo speakers of iPad Air 2 in favor of four speaker system in both iPad Pro 9.7 and iPad Pro 10.5.
USB Connector
Apple went for the relatively new USB 3.0 reversible connector with newer Pro series to improve data transfer speeds. But as far as convenience goes, the old one wasn’t that bad, because it was also reversible.
That’s about it, on paper it looks like Apple improved multimedia capabilities of Pro series immensely, but when you compare them head to head, the difference is not that shocking.
