Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): Which is right for you in an AI era?

This year, Apple has unveiled two exciting new additions to its iPad lineup: the iPad (2025) and the iPad Air (2025) . While both tablets offer impressive capabilities, they cater to distinctly different demographics and use cases. Choosing the right one for you comes down to understanding their unique features and how they align with your needs.

Ultimately, both options bring something unique to the table, catering to a range of consumers. Assessing your specific needs will help you determine which iPad is the right fit for you. Whether you prioritize price, portability, or power, Apple’s latest offerings have you covered.

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): specs

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): design

At first glance, the design of the iPad (2025) and the iPad Air (2025) seems similar to their predecessors, released in 2022 and 2024.

The iPad (2025) boasts a premium all-metal body made from recycled aluminum, providing excellent value at just over $300. Its weight distribution ensures comfort during extended use, and Apple’s understated design remains appealing for a budget tablet. The Touch ID sensor, integrated into the power button, is both reliable and convenient. Additionally, the front-facing camera’s landscape orientation enhances the experience for video calls.

The latest iPad Air can be described as “an affordable Pro Apple tablet,” delivering impressive performance at $400 less than the iPad Pro. We also appreciate the iPad Air’s cleaner design, which no longer includes the “iPad Air” branding on the back, leaving only the Apple logo.

Aside from color options and subtle size differences, the iPad (2025) and iPad Air (2025) share identical placements for buttons, speakers, cameras, and microphones. The Smart Connector on the iPad (2025) is located on the side opposite the camera to attach Apple’s Magic Keyboard Folio, while the iPad Air (2025) features the connector on the rear to support the Magic Keyboard for iPad Air. Additionally, the iPad Air has a magnetic dock on the camera side for charging the Apple Pencil Pro. In contrast, the iPad (2025) is compatible only with the Apple Pencil (1st Generation) and Apple Pencil (USB-C), neither of which supports wireless charging.

As is typical with Apple’s iPads, these models lack any dust or water resistance guarantees, as the company does not provide IP ratings for its tablets. Unlike the Ceramic Shield used in iPhones, Apple does not disclose information about the durability of the front glass. It is advisable to avoid exposing both models to water and to use a protective case. Fortunately, the dimensions of the iPad Air (2025) and iPad (2025) are the same as those of their predecessors, meaning there are plenty of compatible cases available on the market.

While their designs are quite similar, the iPad Air has a slight advantage as it is thinner and offers a larger 13-inch option.

Winner: iPad Air (2025)

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): display

The iPad (2025) features an 11-inch LCD panel with a 60Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2360 x 1640 pixels (264 ppi). It offers a peak brightness of 500 nits and has a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. Overall, the screen delivers good quality for its price, boasting well-saturated colors, good contrast, and decent viewing angles.

However, it has a significant drawback: it uses a non-laminated panel, which creates a visible gap between the top glass layer and the underlying display unit. This gap results in a hollow sound when tapping with a stylus and makes sketching feel less fluid compared to higher-end models.

On the other hand, the iPad Air (2025) is available in two sizes: 11 inches and 13 inches. Both sizes offer vibrant displays that excel in most scenarios, providing a great experience for consuming content. The 13-inch model is notably brighter, with a peak brightness of 600 nits compared to the 500 nits of the 11-inch model.

The iPad Air features a fully laminated display with P3 wide color support and an anti-reflective coating, which significantly reduces glare and enhances touch responsiveness, particularly when using the Apple Pencil for writing or drawing.

However, it’s disappointing that Apple did not upgrade to a mini-LED display, and it feels odd that they haven’t incorporated a 120Hz refresh rate into the iPad Air to better compete with premium Android tablets, such as those from Samsung.

Despite having an oleophobic coating, the screen on the iPad Air continues to attract smudges and requires frequent cleaning, especially in bright conditions.

In summary, while both displays share the same resolution and pixel density, the iPad Air’s fully laminated screen with an anti-reflective coating and P3 color gamut offers a superior experience, especially for creative tasks. In contrast, the iPad’s non-laminated display is serviceable but has noticeable limitations when used with a stylus.

Winner: iPad Air (2025)

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): performance

The iPad (2025) is powered by the A16 processor, which includes a 5-core CPU, a 4-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine. In our testing, it performed well for everyday tasks such as web browsing, social media, streaming videos, and media editing.

However, when used as a computer replacement for multitasking, some performance issues became apparent. While apps do not crash immediately when using split-screen multitasking with several applications open in the background, the smoothness typically associated with Apple devices is somewhat lacking.

A notable technical detail is that the A16 in the iPad differs from the A16 Bionic used in iPhones. The iPad version has a 5-core CPU and a 4-core GPU, while the iPhone model features a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU. Even with these reduced specifications, performance benchmarks show that the iPad still handles everyday tasks well, though it falls behind higher-end devices in multi-core and graphics performance.

Apple claims that the A16 chip makes the new iPad approximately 30% faster than the 2022 model and 50% faster than the 2021 9th-generation iPad, which uses the A13 Bionic. For the typical tasks users perform on an iPad, this level of performance is generally more than sufficient.

On the other hand, the iPad Air (2025) is equipped with Apple’s M3 chip, which is built on a 3nm process and features an 8-core CPU and a 9-core GPU architecture. Apple asserts that it is twice as fast as the M1 iPad Air (2022), and our tests confirmed that the iPad Air felt very responsive during a workday, even while running multiple applications simultaneously.

We tested the iPad Air by opening at least 12 Chrome tabs at the same time, using Google Docs in split-screen mode, and having apps like Teams, Asana, Slack, Gmail, and Lightroom running in the background without any issues. For basic everyday tasks, users are unlikely to notice a significant difference between the M2 and M3 – or even between the M1 and M3.

Overall, the M3 chip makes the iPad Air a formidable device that offers much more power than most users typically need, especially in a tablet. The main advantage of the M3 chip lies in its benefits for creative professionals, as it includes a dedicated media engine that enables hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding for various video formats.

In summary, both iPads perform effectively for their intended users. The iPad (2025) provides solid everyday performance at a more budget-friendly price, while the iPad Air (2025) delivers significantly greater power for creative professionals and those with demanding workloads..

Winner: iPad Air (2025)

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): software and features

The iPad (2025) and iPad Air (2025) both ship with iPadOS 18.3, Apple’s latest tablet operating system. Although Apple doesn’t make update promises, there’s reason to believe they’ll both receive at least five years of updates.

This puts both on par in core software features. However, Apple’s choice to leave the iPad (2025) out of the AI party means the iPad Air (2025) can do quite a bit more. Apple Intelligence features like Writing Tools, Image Playground, Genmoji, Priority Notifications, and summaries are exclusive to the pricier model. By comparison, owners of the 2025 iPad will find their user experience nearly identical to that of the 2022 model.

If you don’t need AI features — or don’t care about Apple’s take on them — then this won’t matter as much. The rest of the software user experience is virtually identical, and the base-model iPad can still run standalone AI apps like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, and handles those just as well as the iPad Air (2025).

Still, the iPad Air has some additional hardware support that will make it more appealing to budding artists and graphic designers. The standard iPad only supports the legacy Apple Pencil (1st Generation) and Apple Pencil (USB-C), making for a slightly confusing landscape. The USB-C version is the best stylus for most folks, as it charges over USB-C, magnetically attaches to the side of the iPad (but won’t charge from there), and even supports Apple Pencil hover on the iPad Air. It’s great for writing notes and basic sketching but lacks pressure sensitivity for more sophisticated drawing.

To get pressure sensitivity on the entry-level iPad, you need to go with the first-generation Apple Pencil. That’s the stylus Apple debuted with the original 12.9-inch iPad Pro in 2015. It has a male Lightning connector on the end, designed to charge by plugging it directly into the bottom of the iPad. Of course, modern iPads no longer have a Lightning port, so you’ll have to use a cable and USB-C-to-Lightning adapter to charge it. To say that makes things awkward feels like an understatement . Also, the first-gen stylus has no hover support, and can’t be magnetically attached to the iPad, so you’ll need to find somewhere else to keep it when you’re not using it.

If you plan to use a stylus with your iPad for anything more than basic sketching, it’s worth upgrading to the iPad Air (2025) and going with the Apple Pencil Pro. This not only supports magnetic charging and pressure sensitivity, but also adds more features, including haptic feedback, double-tap and squeeze gestures to select drawing tools, and a barrel roll that can be used to reorient things like brushes. It’s a significantly better stylus experience. Apple’s Find My can even help you locate a misplaced Apple Pencil Pro.

Winner: iPad Air (2025)

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): cameras

The new Center Stage front camera on the iPad (2025) provides an enhanced video calling experience; however, overall, we did not find any significant improvements in its camera system compared to the previous model. It retains the same specifications with a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 12-megapixel front camera.

One minor upgrade is the adoption of Smart HDR 4 instead of Smart HDR 3, which was used in the earlier model. This upgrade is expected to improve photo processing slightly.

The iPad Air (2025) features a reliable 12-megapixel front camera positioned at the top in landscape orientation, which supports Center Stage to help keep you centered in the frame during video calls despite minor movements.

This model includes two relatively small enhancements to the front camera system compared to the base model: a wider f/2.0 aperture for improved low-light performance and True Tone Retina Flash for more balanced colors. While these subtle differences offer a slight advantage in specific conditions, they are unlikely to be noticeable for most users.

The iPad Air (2025) shares the same camera system as the iPad Air (2024), featuring a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 12-megapixel Center Stage front camera with landscape orientation. This positioning is beneficial, as it aligns with how most people typically hold the iPad during video calls.

Both the front and rear cameras on the iPad Air (2025) support Smart HDR 4, which is an upgrade from Smart HDR 3 in older iPad Air models. This enhancement is expected to deliver improved photo quality, especially under challenging lighting conditions.

Winner: Tie

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): battery life and charging

The iPad (2025) and 11-inch iPad Air (2025) both feature a 28.93 watt-hour (Wh) battery, while the 13-inch model gets a larger 36.59 Wh cell. These are the same batteries as their respective 2022 and 2024 predecessors, and battery life remains similarly unchanged.

While you’d think the larger battery in the 13-inch iPad Air would provide longer run times, that extra power is eaten up by the larger screen. The iPad and both iPad Air models all promise the same 10 hours of web-surfing or video playback, which drops to 9 hours if you’re using cellular data instead of Wi-Fi. Our testing found those numbers were accurate in the previous models, so we expect they’ll hold true for the 2025 releases.

All of Apple’s iPads charge solely over USB-C. A one-meter USB-C charging cable and 20W USB-C power adapter is included in the box. You can likely charge a bit faster if you supply your own higher-wattage adapter — tests have shown most iPads can charge at up to 30W — but the larger batteries mean that extra boost doesn’t make enough of a difference to be worth it. You should plan on charging overnight or at other times when you know you won’t need to use your iPad.

Winner: Tie

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): price and availability

The iPad (2025) and iPad Air (2025) are now available for purchase.

The iPad (2025) starts at $349 for the base model, which now features 128GB of storage, an increase from the previous model’s 64GB. A 256GB version is available for $449, and a new 512GB option is priced at $649. Wi-Fi + Cellular models can be added for an additional $150. The iPad is offered in silver, blue, pink, and yellow.

The iPad Air (2025) begins at $599 for the 11-inch model with 128GB of storage. Upgrades are available to 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB for $699, $899, and $1,099, respectively. The 13-inch iPad Air costs an additional $200 on top of these prices, and the Wi-Fi + Cellular option adds another $150. The iPad Air comes in Space Gray, blue, purple, and Midnight finishes.

Apple iPad (2025) vs. iPad Air (2025): verdict

At $349, the iPad (2025) is hard to beat and is, in our opinion, the best iPad for most users. While it does have some trade-offs, it offers solid performance capable of handling all but the most demanding AAA games and complex video editing tasks. The display is excellent for web surfing, reading, and watching Netflix, and the front camera is satisfactory for video calls with friends, family, and colleagues. If these features meet your needs, the entry-level iPad will serve you well.

Furthermore, the iPad (2025) addresses the most significant issue of its predecessor by increasing the base storage to 128GB. The 2022 version started with a meager 64GB, which was easily filled up, while the next tier was 256GB—often too much for many users. The 2025 model finds the “Goldilocks” zone with its 128GB option, while still offering a 256GB upgrade for those who need more. There is even a new 512GB option for users looking to store plenty of media for a road trip off the grid. However, it’s worth noting that this larger storage option puts you in the price range of the iPad Air, making it a tough decision.

That said, the iPad Air (2025) is an excellent tablet for those willing to spend more. It offers improvements in nearly every aspect. However, it’s more than what most people require day-to-day.

There are compelling reasons to consider Apple’s mid-tier iPad Air, including a superior display, exceptional gaming and video editing performance, an impressive Apple Pencil Pro experience, and support for Apple services. That said, unless you specifically need a larger screen, the standard iPad suffices for everyday tasks. If a larger 13-inch screen is a priority, the iPad Air is your go-to option unless you are prepared to pay MacBook prices for an iPad Pro.

When compared to premium tablets, the iPad Air really shines. It can be regarded as a budget-friendly version of the iPad Pro, providing most of the power and capabilities of Apple’s high-end devices at a much lower cost. However, it is designed for users looking for a laptop replacement for more serious work rather than casual home and family use.