Old vs New iPad – What’s the big frigin’ difference?!

Back in 2018 I picked up a 12.9″ iPad Pro and I’ve been using it daily ever since. It’s my watch YouTube while in bed display and when I travel it’s my watch my shows and movies on the plane display. I also use it for my Apple News+ magazine subscriptions, and I think that’s about it.

A couple of days ago I made an impulse buy, I ended up buying the new M4 iPad Pro 13″. I wasn’t planning to, my wife didn’t want her 12.9″ iPad Pro and instead wanted to take my iPad Mini, so I figured I could sell both her iPad Pro and mine and get a new one instead. It was just a thought and I started price browsing when I spotted the 11″ iPad Pro on WiBi for KD275 and it was a lot cheaper than I was expecting it to cost. I then checked the price of the 13 Pro and it was KD335 so I was like I’m just going to get it now and then sell my other 2 iPads later.

Now I’m kinda regretting it. There really isn’t anything different between the two based on my very basic requirements. I thought maybe the screen would be a huge difference since the new iPad Pro’s have OLED displays but unless I have the two iPad’s side by side I barely could notice the difference. Then I figured the new iPad would be much lighter, but again unless you’ve got two in each hand, you’re not going to notice.

One thing I do notice, but also requires my other iPad next to me is the thickness. Holding the iPad without the case does feel substantially nicer on the new iPad because it’s thinner and slightly lighter. So one benefit but I don’t use my iPad enough in that position for it to make any difference for me.

A second positive with the new iPad is the Smart Folio case, the regular thin Apple case that covers the back and front. The case now allows you to adjust the viewing angle to one that works best for you while the previous case on my older iPad just had one position.

So basically what I want to say is if you already have an older iPad Pro, the newest one isn’t that different. In my case it’s not different at all since I just watch YouTube on it 99% of the time. So I definitely regret buying it.

If you’re interested in picking up a used iPad Pro 12.9″, check the classifieds section in the next couple of days since I’ll be listing both there.