iPad Air vs iPad Pro: Which Should You Actually Buy?
People assume the iPad Pro is better because it costs more and runs faster. That’s not how you should decide. This post shows you what real buyers say about each, the differences that actually matter for your work, honest trade-offs for both models, and exactly which one fits your situation. Based on our research, two points stand out before you compare the details:
- iPad Air handles 95% of typical tasks at half the price. Best for students, everyday users, and casual creators.
- iPad Pro wins only if you edit video, design professionally, or shoot photos seriously.
The real cost is not just the price tag. It is whether you will actually use what you are paying for. Below, we compare the iPad Air and iPad Pro through user reviews, cost and value, and technical specifications.
The real problem
You’re staring at two iPads. One costs several hundred pounds more than the other. The internet tells you the Pro is better: faster refresh rate, better camera, more powerful chip. All true. None of it tells you whether it’s worth it for you.
That gap is where people waste money, or worse, talk themselves out of the Air when it would have done everything they needed.
We buy and resell both models every day at vendi, so we see which iPads people actually trade in, what they say when they do, and what each one is genuinely worth second-hand. Most people should buy the Air. Some genuinely need the Pro. The split isn’t about specs. It’s about what you actually do with the thing.
What real sellers say
These are real reviews from vendi’s Trustpilot profile. You can check every one of them on Trustpilot.
Where the Air genuinely holds up
It runs the same M-series chip family as the Pro, so speed isn’t where it loses. It handles Procreate, a 20-person Zoom call, and 1080p video editing without stuttering. Netflix doesn’t care which iPad you’re on. Neither does your inbox.
Here is a view of the different iPad Air values in the reseller market.
Scroll to see all air models →
Apple iPad Air 5th Gen (2022)
up to £200
Apple iPad Air 11-inch 8th Gen M4 (2026)
up to £500
Apple iPad Air 13-inch 8th Gen M4 (2026)
up to £880
Apple iPad Air 13-inch 6th Gen M2 (2024)
up to £440
Apple iPad Air 11-inch 6th Gen M2 (2024)
up to £370
Apple iPad Air 11-inch 7th Gen M3 (2025)
up to £380
It’s also lighter: around 460g for the 11-inch Air against 579g for the 13-inch Pro. That difference doesn’t sound like much on paper. It’s obvious after an hour of holding the tablet up to draw or read in bed. Your wrist knows the difference even if your eyes don’t.
Then there’s the price gap. A new 11-inch iPad Air starts around £599 at retail, while the 11-inch iPad Pro starts around £999. That £400 is a keyboard case, a year of storage, or just money that doesn’t leave your account.
The 60Hz screen feels a bit choppy if you scroll fast or draw quickly. Not broken, just less smooth than the Pro’s 120Hz. Scroll Instagram on both back to back and you’ll feel the difference in about ten seconds. Read an email on either and you won’t notice anything at all.
The camera is simpler: no LiDAR, the depth sensor that powers 3D scanning and serious AR work. If you’re a product photographer, you’ll feel its absence. If you’re taking photos for Instagram, you’ll never know it was missing.
iPad Pro: what you’re paying for
The Pro earns its price for people who really push it. Here’s an idea of the second-hand market value for the iPad Pro.
Scroll to see all pro models →
Apple iPad Pro 11-inch 6th Gen M5 (2025)
up to £860
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch 8th Gen M5 (2025)
up to £1040
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch 7th Gen M4 (2024)
up to £850
Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch 6th Gen M2 (2022)
up to £640
Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch 5th Gen M1 (2021)
up to £600
Apple iPad Pro 11-inch 4th Gen M2 (2022)
up to £520
The screen is the difference you feel every day. The Pro’s 120Hz OLED is noticeably smoother. Draw a line on the Air and there’s a small lag between the pencil and what shows up on screen. Draw the same line on the Pro and it feels instant. For casual note-taking you won’t register the gap. For illustration work, you will, every stroke.
The camera system adds LiDAR for 3D scanning and pro AR work. If you shoot professional video or scan spaces for work, that’s non-negotiable. If you’re only taking selfies for social media, neither iPad is your camera. Your phone already beats both.
And here’s the part nobody tells you: the Pro holds its value better than any other iPad. We see it in our own buying data every week. The current 13-inch iPad Pro M5 (2025) is worth up to £1,040 on vendi right now, the highest trade-in value of any iPad we buy. Even the three-year-old iPad Pro 12.9-inch M2 (2022) still fetches up to £640. Compare that with the iPad Air 5th Gen (2022) from the same era, which tops out at £200. If you’re the kind of person who upgrades every two or three years, the Pro gives more of your money back at the end.
The catch: you pay several hundred pounds more upfront for that headroom. If your workload never touches it, the Air’s lower entry price beats the Pro’s better resale.
What about the iPad mini and the standard iPad?
The Air vs Pro question has two quieter answers worth a look before you decide.
Scroll to see all mini models →
The iPad mini 7th Gen (2024) is the one to cross-shop if portability is why you’re leaning Air. It runs the same modern apps, fits in a coat pocket, and holds its value well for its size (up to £340 on vendi right now). If your iPad life is reading, notes, and travel, the mini does it with less weight than either the Air or the Pro.
The standard iPad 11th Gen A16 (2025) is the budget answer. It’s the most popular tablet Apple makes, and if your use case is browsing, streaming, and homework, it covers all of it for the lowest entry price of the four. The trade-off is a slower chip and more basic screen, so it’s the wrong buy for creative work.
If either of those sounds more like you than “Air vs Pro”, the whole dilemma dissolves and you keep even more of your money.
Who actually buys which
The Air is right if you’re a student, an everyday user, or someone whose iPad life is email, browsing, note-taking, and casual photos. It’s also right if you’re a casual creator: Instagram posts, simple Procreate sketches, the occasional video edit. The Air runs all of that smoothly, and your phone is probably a better casual video camera than either iPad anyway.
If you’re upgrading from an old iPad and genuinely don’t know yet what you’ll need, buy the Air. If you find yourself wishing it was faster in six months, sell it to vendi and put the money toward a Pro. The trade-up costs you the difference, not the whole price twice.
The Pro earns its keep if you edit video or audio for a living, if you’re a designer or illustrator using the iPad as your main tool, or if you shoot and scan professionally. The 120Hz screen stops being a nice-to-have and starts being how the work feels under your hand, and LiDAR does real work instead of sitting unused.
It’s also the better buy if you upgrade often. The resale table above shows why: the Pro loses less of its value, so the true cost of owning one for two years is closer to the Air than the sticker prices suggest.
If none of that describes you, buy the Air. People rarely regret buying the smaller option. They regret paying for headroom they never used.
The real cost of upgrading
Your upgrade cost isn’t the sticker price of the new iPad. It’s the sticker price minus what your old one is worth.
Say you’re holding an iPad Air 5th Gen (2022). On vendi that sells for up to £200 today. Put that against a new 11-inch Air at around £599 retail and your actual cost of upgrading is around £399, not £599. Stretch to the 11-inch Pro at around £999 and your net cost is roughly £799, double the Air route, for a screen and camera you may or may not use.
Karen’s review above shows the mechanics: full quoted price, paid the same afternoon the device arrived, £10 towards postage on top. That’s the half of the upgrade math most buying guides skip.
Buy the Air unless you’re already certain you need the Pro. Most people won’t miss what they don’t use, and the money saved is real. Buy the Pro if your work lives in the screen, the camera, or the resale value, because that’s where the extra £400 actually goes.
Either way, if you’ve got an older iPad sitting in a drawer, it’s worth something today and a little less every month. Check its value on vendi, rated 4.9/5 across Trustpilot and Google, and make the upgrade decision with the real number in front of you.
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