The newly launched 5th generation iPad Air is looking to be equal to the 11 inch iPad Pro in terms of benchmark performances.
Reviewers ran Apple’s newest iPad Air through Geekbench and confirmed that it is indeed as fast as the 11 inch iPad Pro. In the CPU test, the fifth gen iPad Air scored 1,711 in single core and 7,233 in the multi-core department. On the other hand, the 11 inch iPad Pro scored a 1,718 in single core and 7,313 in the multi-core category.

Metal score for the 5th gen iPad Air showed 21,539 while the iPad Pro had 21,498. Early benchmarks confirm the fact that an M1-powered tablet would be as fast as its higher end models.
The M1 was initially created for the Mac, but made appearances in Apple’s iPad Pro lineup. Its inclusion in the 5th gen iPad Air makes it an unusual choice since it potentially elevates the tablet to the high-end tier.