The XP-Pen artist 12 pro and the iPad air (5th Generation) are both extremely

competent pieces of technology. The XP-Pen Tablet has the advantage of being built from a rationalist perspective, and as such has integral features baked into the hardware, that actively contribute to a better drawing experience. Having physical buttons, as apposed to the gestures of the iPad, is extremely refreshing  and tractile, and makes it feel much more satisfying to undo a mistake. With that said, the process of mapping these commands is a huge hassle, and it commonly resets itself and requires to your redo the inputs manually. The scroll wheel is such an innovative and intelligent integration. Having a physical wheel to scroll in and out with is so fun and makes for a very interactive experience.  

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The iPad was created from a much more phenomenological perspective, and as such, its features relating to drawing are much more backed into the software itself. With that said, it is extremely well integrated. Having the iPad run its own operating system is so much easier than having to bring another laptop, and a bunch of cords with you every where you go. You can simplify take out the device wherever you go, and start drawing. The fact that the pen requires charging initially seems like an inconvenience, but its battery life is so vast, and the wireless charging is so intuitive and automatic, that I have never had the pencil drop below 80%. Although the display is smaller, the fact that you are able to use your fingers to physically zoom in, and to touch buttons on the screen is a much nicer and less annoying experience than I expected it to be. The requirement to charge the battery of the tablet is not ideal. It lasts between 5-8 hours on full brightness, which is certainly impressive, but it doesn't beat the fact that the XP-Pen tablet never has to be charged at all, as it plugs into an existing device. It is worth noting however that the iPad can also do this with certain Apple Mac devices, and be used as an external monitor, without loosing and charge. Further more, although not physical buttons, there are added buttons down the side of the screen that are used to access various commands that are needed for digital art, much like the artist 12 pro. 

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Both the Artist 12 Pro and the iPad Air has distinct advantages and disadvantages. Neither of them are objectively better than the other, but I personally find the portability of the iPad air to be so incredibly convenient, that if I had to choose, I would stick by the iPad air. However the XP-Pen tablet is notably much cheaper at $260 with the wireless pen included, whilst the iPad air, when bundled apple pencil (which very notably is not included automatically) is over $1200 AUD. I personally love my iPad air, but the $1000 price difference is not worth the advantages that the device brings, especially when the XP-Pen tablet only barley loses out to the iPad Air, despite being nearly $1000 cheaper. Its worth noting however that the XP-Pen tablet, as aforementioned, does require an external device in order to operate it, but assuming you already have one, the XP-Pen artist 12 pro is an excellent purchase, especially for young artists, looking to expand into the world of digital artworks. The iPad air does have a lot of extra features that cause me to personally prefer it. However if you are only interested in the artistic side of these two products, it would be more wise to invest in a better piece of external hardware for your XP-Pen tablet instead. 

Both of these products are very well designed for their purposes. Even though the XP-pen tablet is less broad in its abilities, it excels at what it was created for. 

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