Apple’s 2018 iPad Pro lineup is a radical departure from the company’s previous iPad Pro lineup. Not only does it come with faster internals but Apple has also given the exterior a major revamp.

The 2018 iPad Pro lineup combines the best of Apple’s design efforts from previous iPhones. This means you get a square-ish design with rounded display corners similar to the iPhone 5 and iPhone X along with beefed up internals from the iPhone XS. If you already own an iPad Pro and are wondering how the new ones are better, read our comparison below.

2018 iPad Pro vs 2017 iPad Pro: What’s the Difference

Dimensions, Display, and Speakers

• The smaller 10.5-inch iPad Pro has been replaced with a new 11-inch model. The size increase is accompanied by a bump in display resolution to 2388 x 1668 (vs. 2224 x 1668)
  • The bigger 12.9-inch iPad Pro continues to have the display size as the previous generation but it is notably more compact — 280.6 x 214.9 x 5.9mm vs 305.7 x 220.6 x 6.9mm
  • Both tablets are 5.9mm thin which makes them notably thinner than their predecessors (6.1mm and 6.9mm)
  • The smaller dimensions make the 2018 iPad Pro lineup more compact
• The new iPad Pro features a Liquid Retina display with rounded display corners just like on the iPhone XR
• The bigger 12.9-inch iPad Pro now also comes with a 120Hz ProMotion display
  • Other display features like True Tone, Wide color display and a fully laminated LCD panel are also present
• The four-speaker setup on the 2018 iPad Pro offers better stereo separation and comes with a pair of amplifiers and tweeters for each set of speakers

Chip and Storage

• The 2nd generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the 10.50-inch iPad Pro are powered by a 10nm A10X Bionic chip. In comparison, the 2018 iPad Pro lineup features a 7nm A12X Bionic chip with 8-core CPU and 7-core GPU
  • Apple says the A12X is faster than 92 percent PCs out there
  • Its GPU performance can rival that of Xbox One S
  • It also comes with a Neural Engine to speed up AI and ML-based tasks
• The older iPad Pro was available with up to 512GB storage
  • The new one starts from 64GB and goes all the way up to 1TB
• The 2018 iPad Pro is compatible with the 2nd generation Apple Pencil
  • Older models are limited to supporting the first generation Pencil only
• The 2018 iPad Pro is also compatible with Apple’s new Smart Keyboard Folio
  • The older models are limited to support the Smart Keyboard only

Camera

• The 2018 iPad Pro lineup features a 7MP TrueDepth camera at the front
  • This camera allows the new iPad Pro to capture depth information thereby allowing support for features like Animoji, Memoji
  • The older generation iPad Pro comes with a regular 7MP FaceTime HD camera
• The front camera on the 2018 iPad Pro supports Portrait mode and Portrait Lighting
  • It also has Smart HDR for improved contrast and details
• All the four tablets feature a 12MP camera at the rear with f/1.8 aperture
  • However, the 2018 iPad Pro lineup’s rear camera lacks OIS
  • It also only comes with a five-element lens compared to the six-element lens found on the older iPad Pro
• The 2018 iPad Pro lineup features Smart HDR
• They are also capable of recording 4K videos at up to 60fps with Cinematic video stabilization
  • The older iPads are limited to recording 4K videos at 30fps and do not feature Cinematic video stabilization

Biometric Authentication

• The 2018 iPad Pro ditches the Home button for Face ID
  • Unlike iPhone X and iPhone XS, Face ID works in landscape mode on the new iPad Pro lineup
• Previous generation iPad Pro devices featured a physical Home button with Touch ID sensor

Connectivity and Battery Life

• The 2018 iPad Pro come with USB-C port instead of Lightning as found on older iPads
  • This allows one to connect them to external monitors, camera, storage devices, and other USB-C devices
  • The new iPad Pro can connect to a 5K monitor
  • It can also be used to charge an iPhone or any other device over USB-C
• The new iPad Pro lineup comes with faster Gigabit LTE and Bluetooth 5.0
  • They also come with simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi
  • The older ones are limited to LTE-A speeds and Bluetooth 4.2
• The 2018 iPad Pro lineup comes with eSIM support along with a Nano-SIM slot
  • The older generation iPad Pro is limited to Nano-SIM slot with Apple SIM support
• Apple claims the same up to 10 hours of web browsing battery life for all the tablets
  • The 2018 iPad Pro lineup does come with an 18W USB-C charger for faster charging times

Price

• The 2018 iPad Pro lineup is more expensive than the older generation
  • The base 11-inch iPad Pro without LTE starts from $799
  • In comparison, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro now starts from $649
• The 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts from $999 and goes all the way up to $1899 for the 1TB variant with LTE connectivity

What are your thoughts on Apple’s new iPad Pro lineup? Will you be upgrading to it from your existing iPad? Or will you wait for its price to go down and then pull the trigger? Drop a comment and let us know!