The iPad Pro is thinner and lighter than the iPad Air

If you put ‘air’ in a product’s name, people will probably expect it to be light and thin. So, it’s somewhat surprising that Apple’s new iPad Air is neither the lightest nor thinnest iPad the company sells now.

As spotted by The Verge, the M2-equipped iPad Air is heavier than the M4-equipped iPad Pro. It’s also slightly thicker, though most people probably won’t notice the 1mm difference between the two iPads.

The 11-inch iPad Air clocks in at 1.02lbs to the 11-inch iPad Pro’s 0.98lb, while the 13-inch models weigh in at 1.36 and 1.28lbs, respectively. The Air models are 0.24-inches (6.1mm) thick, but the new 11-inch iPad Pro is 0.21-inches (5.3mm) and the 13-inch is 0.20-inches (5.1mm) thick. The 10th-gen iPad sits somewhere at 1.05lbs but is thicker at 0.28-inches (7mm).

That doesn’t seem very ‘air’ to me.

Screenshot of the size and weight of the new iPads from Apple’s comparison chart.

Ultimately, the move is pretty strange, especially when you consider Apple’s own thoughts about the position the iPad Air holds in the lineup. During the ‘Let Loose’ event, Apple described the Air as a mid-range option that brings some of the iPad Pro features to a more affordable price point. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but it feels strange to brand the tablet as the ‘iPad Air’ if it’s not the thinnest, lightest iPad. And I could be wrong, but I think customers looking at the iPad Pro — you know, for professional work — would be more than happy to sacrifice a little bit of thinness for something like longer battery life or improved thermal performance. (That’s not to say the new iPad Pro isn’t good in either respect.)

Granted, we’re talking about a very small difference in weight and thickness here, small enough that it might not matter to most people. It is a funny detail about the new iPads, however.

You can read more about the iPad Air here and the iPad Pro here.

Source: Apple Via: The Verge