Who Needs an iPad Pro? The M4 iPad Air Does Everything I Want

If you put the 2026 iPad Air next to the 2025 model, you won't see any differences. They're the same size, the same shape, and have the same hardware features. There's an 11-inch version ($599) and a 13-inch version ($799), the same as before, and the new model even comes in the same old colors: Blue, Purple, Space Gray, or Starlight. I received the Blue 13-inch model for review, which I find quite striking.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

The 11-inch version measures 9.74 by 7.02 by 0.24 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.02 pounds, while the 13-inch model measures 11.04 by 8.46 by 0.24 inches and weighs 1.36 pounds. If you're thinking about the pricier iPad Pro, it also comes in 11- and 13-inch variants, which are 9.83 by 6.99 by 0.21 inches and 0.98 pounds, and 11.09 by 8.48 by 0.20 inches and 1.28 pounds, respectively. Meanwhile, the standard iPad measures 9.79 by 7.07 by 0.28 inches and weighs 1.05 pounds.

The midrange Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE, available in 10.9 inches for $499.99 and 13.1 inches for $649.99, measures 6.53 by 10.01 by 0.24 inches and weighs 1.09 pounds, and 7.66 by 11.83 by 0.24 inches and 1.46 pounds, respectively.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

Whether you go big or small is up to you. The tablets share all the same features and capabilities; the only differences are their dimensions and weight. The 11-inch size is ideal for travel and fits easily in smaller bags and totes. Although it's a powerful, portable machine, I find I am more productive on the larger screen of the 13-inch model. But that's me. You may find the increase in size and weight (especially when paired with the Magic Keyboard) to be too great.

The tablet has an aluminum chassis that forms the side edges and the entire rear panel. It provides good protection and blends well with the display's glass cover. I like the matte finish of the paint job and the small hint of texture it provides. As tough as the iPad Air seems, it's not protected against dust or water by an IP rating. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S10 FE and FE+ are fully protected thanks to their IP68 rating. I'd like to see the Air made waterproof in its next revision. Until then, get a watertight case if you intend to use it around water.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

Another improvement that I think is overdue? Face ID. The entire iPhone line includes Face ID. The Air relies on Touch ID, which is built into the power button. The button's location favors right-handed people (I'm a lefty), and I found it finicky in testing. It only recognized my print on the first read about half the time. Face ID is faster and more convenient (if not as secure).

Otherwise, the controls behave as expected. The power/Touch ID button is on the top short edge, and it works beautifully when pressed. The volume buttons, located around the corner from the power key, have similarly excellent travel and feedback. A USB-C port is visible on the bottom edge, as are small holes for one set of the stereo speakers. The other set is found along the top edge. You might also notice a small plastic window on one long edge, denoting the 5G antennas, but you won't find a SIM card tray. The iPad Air is eSIM only.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

The single rear camera is in one corner. There's no flash, but you can spot a small microphone just beneath the camera lens. The front-facing camera, which is hard to see, is centered on the top long edge.

The iPad Air's design hasn't changed much over the last several generations. Other than making the tablet waterproof and adding Face ID, there's not much left to improve. It's a quality piece of hardware.

Apple hasn't updated the iPad Air's display this year. In fact, it didn't update the display for last year's iPad Air, either. That means we're looking at the same screen from 2024.

Both the 11- and 13-inch tablets rely on an IPS LCD with LED backlights. The 11-incher has 2,360 by 1,640 pixels, and the 13-incher has 2,732 by 2,048 pixels, both with a density of 264ppi. The screens have a static 60Hz refresh rate, and 500 nits (11-inch) and 600 nits (13-inch) of brightness. Apple says the screen is laminated and has an anti-glare coating, but I found it plenty reflective in testing.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

The iPad Pro's screen is far superior, thanks to its variable-rate 120Hz OLED panel, which delivers a peak brightness of 1,600 nits and much greater contrast. You can also get it with a nanotexture glass coating, which reduces glare to almost nothing.

In comparison, the Galaxy Tab S10 FE’s 10.9-inch display has a resolution of 2,304 by 1,440, while the Tab S10 FE+'s 13.1-inch screen has a resolution of 2,880 by 1,800. Both have a 90Hz refresh rate and put out 800 nits.

The Air's screen is very good. Given that its top competitors also use LCDs, we can't fault Apple for its panel choice. I wish it were a little brighter and better at rejecting glare, but the Air's screen has enough resolution to meet the needs of students and casual creators, and more than enough for when you want to sit back and relax with your favorite videos.

The biggest upgrade for the 2026 iPad is its engine. Apple has ditched the M3 chip in favor of its speedier M4 processor. The M4 has eight CPU cores, with three performance and five efficiency cores. That's different from the M3, which has four performance and four efficiency cores. Both the M4 and M3 have nine GPU cores and 16 NPU (Neural Engine) cores. Importantly, the M4 boosts memory bandwidth from 100Mbps to 120Mbps and unified memory from 8GB to 12GB.

Pricing for the different storage configurations is as follows:

• 11-inch: 128GB ($599), 256GB ($699), 512GB ($899), 1TB ($1,099)

• 13-inch: 128GB ($799), 256GB ($899), 512GB ($1,099), 1TB ($1,299)

Given that the base iPhone 17e ($599) and 17 ($799) now ship with 256GB of storage, I'm struggling to understand why the base iPads are still limited to 128GB. Put that on the list of must-haves for the next-gen iPad Air.

(Credit: Geekbench/3DMark/PCMag)

To assess performance relative to other devices, I use benchmarking apps. I ran 3DMark, AnTuTu, BaseMark, and Geekbench 6 for scoring. On these tests, the M4 iPad Air scored 3,138,110 (AnTuTu), 6,717 frames at 40.2fps (3DMark), 22,984 (BaseMark), and 3,713/13,153 (Geekbench). These marks are clearly ahead of the M3 iPad, which reached 2,110,706, 6,536 frames at 39.1fps, and 3,001/10,839, respectively.

The M5-equipped iPad Pro, meanwhile, hit 3,416,162 on AnTuTu, 10,929 frames at 65.4fps on 3DMark, and 4,141/15,490 on Geekbench. Those scores are significantly higher, but the iPad Pro starts at $999 and is meant for professional creative workflows.

The iPad Air continues to trounce the Android competition in raw power. For example, the Galaxy Tab S10 FE hit only 1,358 and 3,886 on Geekbench, or less than one-third the Air's marks.

If you're a student using the iPad Air for basic word processing, spreadsheeting, and note-taking applications, the tablet provides way more performance than you need. If you're also editing a project in iMovie or GarageBand, the Air easily conquers those, as well. It handles apps like Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro without slowing down. All of the available Apple Intelligence tools work just as well as they do on any iPhone I've used in the last year. The iPad Air has all the power most people will ever need in a tablet, if not more so.

Apple has made no publicly stated upgrades to the iPad's battery life. It markets the tablet with the same battery life that it always does. That means you can expect about 10 hours of battery life when browsing the web over Wi-Fi and 9 hours when browsing over 5G. In everyday use, you will get the stated 9 to 10 hours. That's just enough to push you through a full day of school or work. I used the iPad as a work machine for an entire day and still had enough juice left over to watch a movie. Most iPads, including the regular model and the Pro, get approximately the same daily battery life.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

Things look different when I challenge the iPad with our battery torture test. I set up the iPad to stream video over Wi-Fi with the screen brightness set to full. I let it run until the battery conks out. Under these conditions, the 13-inch iPad Air ran for 7 hours and 44 minutes. That's an improvement of 23 minutes compared with the M3 iPad Air, though it's not a big leap forward. The 11-inch M5 iPad Pro lasted 8 hours and 11 minutes, while the 13.1-inch Galaxy Tab S10 FE+ lasted 7 hours and 45 minutes. These tablets all deliver about the same battery life.

Thankfully, Apple still includes its 20W charging brick and a high-quality cable with the tablet. When plugged in, the M4 iPad Air needed 1 hour 41 minutes to recharge fully, a slight improvement (by 8 minutes) compared with the M3 iPad.

The radio suite is another area where the M4 iPad Air gets a solid upgrade. It moves to Apple's C1X modem, in addition to the N1 bundle for other radios. These give it a bump in performance everywhere it counts.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

The C1X is the same modem found in the iPhone Air and iPhone 17e. It performs very well in both devices. It supports sub-6GHz 5G frequencies, which include C-band, but not speedier mmWave. I was not able to test the iPad's modem.

The N1 radio is Apple's combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip. It's in several versions of the iPhone, where it performs really well. Most importantly, the iPad Air moves from Wi-Fi 6E to Wi-Fi 7, the current standard, ensuring the iPad will have a fast radio for years to come. When tested on my home's Wi-Fi 6 router, it delivered outstanding speeds of 750Mbps down and 179Mbps up. These are in the same ballpark as the highest numbers I've recorded at home. More importantly, I was easily able to stream HD media throughout my entire house without any caching or pauses.

The M4 iPad also improves from Bluetooth 5.3 to Bluetooth 6.0, the latest version available to consumer electronics. It includes advanced features like Auracast and higher data throughput. In testing, the iPad easily connected to headphones, earphones, and speakers.

Apple leaves the USB-C port unchanged, which means it's v3.0. It can push data at 10Gbps and supports up to 6K monitors via DisplayPort. The standard iPad has USB-C (v2.0) and the Pro has USB-C (v4.0).

The iPad Air carries over its speaker and mic design, which means you get stereo playback via drivers on the two opposing short edges and two mics for video chats and video capture.

The sound is good overall. I was pleased with the quality when watching the latest videos from my favorite YouTubers and when listening to streamed music. Movies aren't going to blow your ears off (that's where headphones and speakers help out), but our test track, The Knife's "Silent Shout," sounds really good. The bass notes at the beginning pop through the mix just enough so you know that they're there, which is more than we can say about most devices I test.

When held against a decibel meter, the speakers reached a maximum output of 88.3dB, which is more than enough volume for your bedroom, living room, or office.

It appears that the M4 iPad Air is recycling the M3 iPad Air's camera hardware, which was itself carried over from the M2 iPad Air. Tablets don't need the world's best cameras, however, and the iPad has almost always taken better photos and videos than the competition.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

You get two 12MP cameras, one on the rear and one on the front. The rear camera has an f/1.8 lens with autofocus, HDR 4, Live Photos, and 5x digital zoom. It captures video up to 4K60. The Center Stage camera has a 12MP sensor and an f/2.4 aperture lens. It captures video up to 1080p60. These cameras have Apple's basic set of features, like panorama, square-shooting, and a screen-based flash for selfies, but they stop well short of the Pro model's more advanced tools, such as Portrait Mode. I was hoping the M4 chip would bring some of the Pro's features down to the Air, but that's not the case.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

The photos and videos I took with the iPad Air are the best I've seen from any tablet other than the iPad Pro. Pictures are clean, sharp, and have accurate color. You'll notice a little bit of grain in low-lit shots, but that's to be expected. The 4K video samples are similar in their strengths. You should still probably use your iPhone to capture most content, but the iPad Air will work well enough if you're in a pinch. And FaceTime or Google Meet chats look great from the front camera.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

The iPad Pro offers a significant upgrade in video with ProRes video and stereo audio capture, but these tools are likely overkill for most people.

The iPad Air ships with iPadOS 26 and updates to iPadOS 26.3.1 when you sign on for the first time. iPadOS 26 brings significant changes to the user interface. First and foremost, it adopts the Liquid Glass design language, which many people are lukewarm about. You can tone down the look in the settings if you wish. More importantly, iPadOS 26 introduces a more powerful windowing system that lets you keep multiple apps open in resizable, movable windows on the home screen. For power users, it can be a boon to multitasking.

iPadOS 26 windows (Credit: Apple/PCMag)

In terms of support, you can expect at least five years of system and security upgrades from Apple, which is more than the two years offered to most Android tablets. Only Samsung provides a longer commitment for its tablets (ranging from five to seven years).

Apple iPadOS 26 Liquid Glass (Credit: Apple/PCMag)

There aren't any specific new Apple Intelligence or other AI features debuting with the M4 iPad Air, but this tablet runs the available tools smoothly.

(Credit: Eric Zeman)

The 2026 iPad Air, powered by Apple's M4 chip and C1X modem, is an iterative upgrade to the company's midrange tablet that delivers a significant performance boost. Faster speeds mean smoother workflows, quicker Apple Intelligence, and rapid connections. I wish Apple had improved a few aspects of the hardware, such as adding Face ID and making the tablet waterproof, but these are minor considerations given the rest of the tablet's quality. While casual users can comfortably spend less on the standard iPad, the iPad Air provides the best balance of price and performance for students and creators, earning it our Editors' Choice award.

SHOULD I UPGRADE?

If you have an M3-equipped iPad Air, now is not the time to upgrade. Yes, the M4 iPad Air is quicker, but not enough so to warrant the investment. Instead, wait until the next generation. However, if you have an M1-powered iPad Air or older, you'll gain significantly faster performance by upgrading to the M4 model.