iPad Air vs iPad Pro: A Meditation on Thinness, Purpose, and the $300 Between Them
2026-02-07 · BuyGetRewards Staid Staff
Preface
The BuyGetRewards Editorial Staff convened on a Tuesday. The fluorescent lighting hummed at precisely 60 hertz. Two iPads sat on the conference table. One cost $599. The other cost $999. We stared at them for eleven minutes before anyone spoke.
The Physical Examination
The iPad Air M3 weighs 462 grams. The iPad Pro M4 weighs 444 grams. An 18-gram difference. We passed both devices around the table in silence. One staff member reported that the Pro felt "like holding a thought." Another said the Air felt "like holding a slightly heavier thought." We noted this in our spreadsheet.
The Air is 6.1mm thin. The Pro is 5.1mm thin. One millimeter. We placed a single sheet of copy paper on the table — approximately 0.1mm thick — and attempted to visualize ten of them stacked. This is the gulf between these two devices. Several staff members found this exercise profoundly unsettling.
The Display Situation
The iPad Pro features a tandem OLED display. We displayed a photograph of a black cat in a dark room on both screens. On the Pro, the darkness surrounding the cat achieved what one editor described as "the void itself rendered in Retina resolution." On the Air, the same darkness was merely very, very dark. Both cats appeared identical and uninterested in our evaluation.
The Pro's display refreshes at 120Hz. The Air refreshes at 60Hz. We scrolled through a spreadsheet on both devices simultaneously. The Pro's scrolling was described as "buttery." The Air's scrolling was described as "also fine." The spreadsheet contained our quarterly projections. We did not discuss the projections.
The Chip Analysis
The M3 chip in the Air handles everything we asked of it. We edited a 4K video. We ran three browser tabs simultaneously. We opened a large PDF. At no point did the device hesitate, stutter, or convey any emotion whatsoever.
The M4 chip in the Pro is faster. Benchmarks confirm this with numerical certainty. Geekbench multi-core: M4 scores 14,600. M3 scores 12,100. We stared at these numbers. One staff member asked, "Faster at what, exactly?" The room fell silent again.
For 94% of tasks a human being performs on a tablet — reading, note-taking, streaming, light photo editing, browsing, email — both chips complete the operation before the user's finger has fully lifted from the glass. The difference exists exclusively in the domain of professional video editing, 3D rendering, and benchmark screenshots posted to Reddit.
The $300 Question
The iPad Air M3 13-inch starts at $599. The iPad Pro M4 13-inch starts at $999. The difference is $400. We asked each staff member what they would do with $400:
- "Buy another iPad Air and have two iPads" — rejected as excessive
- "Invest in index funds" — sensible but irrelevant
- "Purchase 400 items from the dollar store" — noted without comment
- "Apply it toward a MacBook Air, which also has the M3 chip and also does everything" — this person was promoted
The Verdict
The BuyGetRewards Editorial Staff unanimously recommends the iPad Air M3 for the following reasons:
1. It does everything the Pro does for most humans
2. The $400 saved can be redirected toward accessories, AppleCare, or the slow accumulation of wealth
3. The 6.1mm profile, while one millimeter thicker than the Pro, still prompted one editor to hold the device edge-on and contemplate whether flatness itself is an aspiration or a condition
4. The M3 chip has never once complained about its position in the silicon hierarchy
The iPad Pro M4 is recommended exclusively for: professional video editors, 3D artists, individuals who require ProMotion to maintain their sense of well-being, and anyone for whom the phrase "tandem OLED" produces a physiological response.
The iPad Air M3 11-inch is currently $489.99 on our deals page. We verified this price at 9:47 AM EST. It was correct. We checked again at 9:48 AM. Still correct.
— The BuyGetRewards Editorial Staff
