iPad 8 vs. iPad Air 4: What's the Difference Between?

September 15, 2020, Apple’s Time Flies Event, the iPad lineup was revamped with two new versions of the standard iPad and the iPad Air. These new releases will now join the new iPad Pro introduced in early 2020. All these devices are said to run on iPadOS 14.

Where the iPad 8 is rumored to come with the current A12 processor, the iPad Air 4 will come with the latest A14 Bionic chipset. This means the iPad Air will be an even better choice than the iPhone 12.

News of the iPad Air 4 with the A14 chipset instills a sense of exhilaration. What’s even more exciting is it will come with some additional improvements including new colors, slimmer bezel, touch ID on the top button, etc. These interesting updates will target the audiences of both the Apple tablets.

In this article, we will discuss more on what these devices have to offer to users like you and me, and how they differ among each other.

Comparing the two

Performance and Camera

The performance of both devices is immensely affected by the choice of processors. The iPad 8 comes with the A12 Bionic, an upgrade from the A10 Fusion Processor, whereas the iPad Air 4 gets the latest A14 Bionic, thus bringing a significant jump in the CPU performance. The A12 also brings twice the graphics capability as with the A10 Fusion. The A12 includes Apple’s Neural Engine which also promotes Siri Performance and AR experience. Coming to the all-new A14 Bionic chip, it is based on the 5-nanometer processor in Apple’s mobile devices meaning more power in a compact design. This also means a significant improvement in performance and graphics over the A12 Bionic chip in the iPad Air 3.

When we speak of the camera in the iPad 8, it hasn’t changed from the 8-MP sensor from the last generation model. Whereas, the iPad Air 4 has a 12MP rear camera from the iPad Pro. Thus, you can now capture 4K videos easily.

Design and Display

IPad 8 isn’t any different from the 7th generation model. The only difference is generated by the changes inside the device. However, the iPad Air 4 has a new design that truly stands out. While the iPad 8 has the same bezels and Touch ID, the iPad Air 4 has slimmer bezels, has no home button and the fingerprint ID has been moved to the button on the top edge. This makes the screen on the iPad Air 4 look bigger than the iPad 8. The Air 4 is also thin at 0.24 inches and comes with multiple color options. A USB-C port has been introduced whereas, the iPad 8 still has the lightning interface for USB connections.

Price and Availability

As clear from the table above, the iPad 8 among the two will come cheap owing to its A12 processor and low specifications. Starting at $329 for the Wi-Fi only model, it will be priced at $459 for the cellular model. The device is available in the stores now and you can get one for you.

However, the iPad Air 4 will only be available until the coming month. It starts at a base price of $599 for the Wi-Fi only model and $729 for the cellular phone. Unlike the iPad 8, you will have to wait to get it in your inventory. Pre-orders are expected to begin soon.

Special Features

The special features in the iPad 8 are limited only up to the improvements that Apple is introducing in the iPad OS 14 like the Apple Pencil support, which, unfortunately, is not available on the iPad 8. Other modifications like the new app sidebars, compact notifications, and improved universal search function, etc. These features have now become available for all iPads w.e.f. September 16.

On the contrary, the Apple iPad Air 4 has a smart connector which makes it work with the Magic Keyboard accessory and the Apple Pencil 2 as well. All other features like the sidebars, compact notifications, and search function will also be available for the iPad Air 4.

Battery

If there is one thing, where both the devices are similar, it is the battery life. Both the iPad 8 and the iPad Air 4 offers around 10 hrs of uptime on web surfing. If you switch to cellular models, the same battery life will drop to around 9 hours. For charging the batteries that these devices contain, the iPad 8 still has the lightning port whereas the iPad Air 4 gets a USB-C port. Apple hasn’t introduced many changes in the battery life of these devices. It would have been better if the battery capacities were increased.

The final word

Both the iPad 8 and the iPad Air 4 were highly-anticipated devices and attracted a big crowd. With iPad 8 appealing to the general users, the iPad Air 4 appealed more to those wanting to go with sleek looks and performance combined.

Though the iPad8 isn’t much of a change from the previous generation apart from the processor, the iPad Air4 is quite an investment owing to the flagship A14 Bionic processor and the changes in the physical characteristics. It will be interesting to see what other distinctions come out as we get to use them in the real world.