Verdict
Even though this is another minor spec-based upgrade for Apple’s mid-range tablet, the iPad Air M4 is still impressive. It can do everything most will want in a tablet, has faster memory (and more of it) plus support for newer connectivity options.
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The performance of the mid-range iPad continues to improve -
Improved connectivity -
Two size options is always welcome -
Great accessories
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No ProMotion -
Colour options are welcome, but a little drab
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Key Features
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Review Price: £599 -
M4 chip
The fatest silicon in an iPad Air yet -
Faster connectivity
Wi-Fi 7 support for the first time -
More memory
12GB RAM, up from 8GB
Introduction
Are you still using an older iPad with an M1 chip or perhaps even some older A-series silicon? Well, the iPad Air M4 is for you.
Another year, another iPad Air spec bump. If you’ve come here expecting to read about a barrage of new features, then I can tell you right away that isn’t the case.
Like with the iPad Air M3 I reviewed last year, the new M4 version is a chip bump and nothing else. The design is unchanged, as is the display, colour options and battery tech.
That’s not to say this isn’t a good tablet. I have long said the iPad Air is Apple’s best tablet for most people. It does more than the base iPad, and has enough ‘Pro’ touches to make its lower price draw eyes away from the iPad Pro line.
But the big question is – is the iPad Air M4 the new iPad to beat?
Screen
- Same display as previous models
- 11 and 13-inch size options
- No 120Hz ProMotion
When Apple launched the iPhone 17 and finally added ProMotion, ridding it of that 60Hz display, I thought, “Great, that’ll be the end of slow display on mid-range Apple devices going forward.” Well, I was wrong. While there have been rumours about display upgrades and perhaps a switch to OLED, the iPad Air M4 has – as far as I can tell – the exact same display as the previous few models.
The iPad Air M4 still comes in two screen size options. And just like the higher-end, higher-priced iPad Pro that includes an 11-inch version and a larger 13-inch option. Both have the same features, same storage options and same colour choices, although Apple does say the 13-inch model can get slightly brighter at a maximum of 600 nits, rather than 500 nits.
It’s great having this choice, as both are aimed at very different people. The 11-inch is ideal as a companion device: YouTube on the train, games, reading, while the 13-inch is the smarter choice as a laptop alternative or replacement. I prefer using the 13-inch model with one of the keyboard attachments, as the extra space makes for a more comfortable typing experience.
Whether you go for 11- or 13-inch, the display is an LED-backlit panel with a decent anti-reflective coating and support for P3 colour and True Tone. I measured 480 nits of brightness on the 11-inch version, which is in line with Apple’s claims and on par with the previous model.
These brightness levels aren’t enough for HDR video – although Apple doesn’t claim as much – however, visibility is good in both bright and darker environments. Put it next to the OLED-toting iPad Pro, and there is a noticeable difference, with the pricier tablet having a much higher maximum brightness and much deeper, richer colours.
The Pro iPads also benefit from a 120Hz maximum refresh rate, so everything looks smoother than the 60Hz here. It’s a shame the iPad Air hasn’t got this feature yet, especially as it is no longer restricted to the iPhone Pro series, but it’s not a dealbreaker.
Design
- Made with 30% recycled content
- Available in blue, purple, starlight, and space grey
- Although no design changes, it remains a looker
Looking through the spec sheets for the iPad Air M4 and outgoing M3 version, it’s hard to find much that sets them apart.
Apple has kept the same design for the last few iPad Air generations, and I think it still feels fresh and modern. There are flat edges and straight lines everywhere, with minimal bezel surrounding the display.
The same four colour options are available, including Space Grey (pictured), Blue, Purple and Starlight. The hues are on the muted side and less punchy than the iMac, although it’s still nice to have a bit of variety – even if it would be nice to freshen things up a bit. This is the third iPad Air refresh in a row with the same colour choices.
There’s a magnetic connector on the long side that connects and charges the sold-separately Apple Pencil Pro and three magnetic connectors on the back for transferring power to a connected keyboard.
It’s a thin and light tablet, especially in the more compact 11-inch size. The 464g weight (465g for the cellular model) makes it easy to hold for longer periods of time, and while it’s not quite as thin as the iPad Pro, it is still very slim.
Apple says that the iPad Air is made with 30% recycled content, and that includes 100% recycled aluminium in the enclosure and 100% recycled cobalt in the battery. The packaging is also made from 100% fibre-based material and can be fully recycled.
Biometric security is handled by the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which is built into the power key, and there’s a USB-C port on the bottom for charging and attaching dongles like an SD card reader to transfer photos directly to the iPad.
Performance
- More memory – now 12GB
- 8-core CPU and a 9-core GPU
- N1 chip with WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread
The upgrades for this iPad Air refresh are all centred around a couple of new chips, although there’s more benefit than simply speed gains. While the M4 is the highlight, my eye has been drawn to both the upgraded memory and the N1 networking chip
Memory, for instance, has been boosted from 8GB to 12GB – and this is with an increased bandwidth of 120GB/s. More memory is key to running larger AI models effectively and is always welcome.
The N1 chip, Apple’s own networking silicon, brings Wi-Fi 7 to the Air series for the first time. If you’ve got a router which supports it, you’ll get faster speeds. I have such a router, and the results show a huge improvement over the Wi-Fi-capable M3 Air. The cellular iPad Air M4 has another of Apple’s chips, the C1X, inside. This supports GPS, 5G and eSIM.
At the heart of the latest iPad Air is the M4 chip. Apple has used this chip before, in the iPad Pro and many variants of the MacBook line, and it makes this iPad Air the fastest I have seen yet.
The silicon is not exactly the same as the M4 I tested in the iPad Pro, though. The version here has an 8-core CPU (3 performance cores, 5 efficiency cores) and a 9-core GPU. Whereas the M4 inside the iPad Pro had a 9-core CPU and 10-GPU.
Still, this is a very capable tablet, and the smattering of upgrades do make a noticeable difference whether you’re exporting files in Final Cut, editing large images in Pixelmator Pro or doing AI-based tasks.
In all my tests, there was a decent bump over the outgoing model, and you can see the numbers below.
Test Data
| Apple iPad Air M4 | Apple iPad Pro M4 2024 | Apple iPad Air M3 (2025) | Apple iPad Air (2024) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 single core | 3726 | 3660 | 3010 | 2583 |
| Geekbench 6 multi core | 13286 | 14555 | 117312 | 10023 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU | 52607 | – | – | – |
| 3DMark Solar Bay | 12727 | – | – | – |
| 1 hour video playback (Netflix, HDR) | – | 7 % | – | 4 % |
| 30 minute gaming (intensive) | – | – | – | 6 % |
| 30 minute gaming (light) | – | – | – | 5 % |
| Time from 0-100% charge | – | 100 min | – | 147 min |
| 60-min recharge (included charger) | – | – | – | 51 % |
| 30-min recharge (included charger) | – | – | – | 20 % |
| 15-min recharge (included charger) | – | – | – | 13 % |
| 3D Mark – Wild Life | – | – | 5323 | – |
| GFXBench – Aztec Ruins | 60 fps | – | 60 fps | 60 fps |
| GFXBench – Car Chase | 60 fps | – | 60 fps | 60 fps |
Where the difference will be felt though, is for those updating from older iPads, like those with an M1 chip or an A-series model. Here, Apple says the M4 model is 2.3x faster than an M1 iPad Air, with 4x the rendering performance. That’s massive, and these claims ring true in my tests and benchmarks.
There are two cameras, one on the landscape side of the front and another on the back. The front 12-megapixel camera is the standout, and makes for detailed, colour-accurate video calls.
Apple’s Center Stage software means you’re always centrally positioned in the frame, and it does a good job at following movement. It isn’t restricted to Apple’s apps either, and it works on Zoom or Webex meetings too.
The rear 12-megapixel is standard iPad fare. It’s good for scanning in documents to sign or AR bits, and it can shoot 4K 60 video too, but for photos you’re best off with your phone.
Storage options are the same as the previous iPad Air, with all the big sizes catered for. The base 128GB is too small for many, especially with apps and games coming with larger install sizes. The 256GB size is the sweet spot for me, while the prices for the 512GB and 1TB options are getting very close to the iPad Pro.
Software
- The latest version of iPadOS is the most desktop-like yet
- Upgdate windowing system
- Liquid Glass will likely divide
iPadOS 26, with its translucent Liquid Glass UI, comes as standard on the iPad Air M4, and this will be upgradeable to iPadOS 27 and so on when they arrive. The iPad now operates a little more like a traditional desktop or laptop, with a windowed interface where apps can be resized and layered on top of each other. There’s also now a menu bar, like on MacOS, for easily accessing options and a much-improved Files app.
Apple has also done a good job of expanding the range of ‘Pro’ level apps available on the iPad and these all work very well on the iPad Air M4. The Creator Studio subscription gives you Mac stalwarts like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and the viable Photoshop-alternative Pixelmator Pro for a monthly or yearly fee, and these do start to push the silicon.
Final Cut Pro feels like it’s made for these powerful chips, especially with some of the AI features – like Scene Removal Mask – that work far quicker here than on older models. Apple says that the 16-core neural engine here is 3x faster than the one in the M1 iPad Air, and while I can’t really confirm those claims, it certainly does feel like a far more AI-capable machine.
If you use a Mac, you can use your trackpad and keyboard to control the iPad Air M4 with Universal Control – a feature I love, and use just about every day.
I don’t love Apple Intelligence quite so much. Apple’s first attempt at AI software feels like it has been a bit left behind since its underwhelming launch, and it’s in a sort of limbo until the switch to Google’s Gemini backend happens.
Battery Life
- Not all regions get a charger in the box
- USB-C charging
- Battery life is roughly the same as before
Apple doesn’t really ever alter the battery life claims for its iPads, and there hasn’t been a huge endurance revelation for one of these machines in a seriously long time.
Like just about every iPad aside from the Mini, the iPad Air M4 is stated to last for 10 hours of web browsing or video streaming. When I reviewed the M3 model last year, I said that after completing a full day of work, I was left with 20% left. It’s very much the same story here, and the same test left me with 22%. I tested Apple’s video claims too, and got 11 and a half hours of video playback on downloaded Apple TV content.
USB-C is the port of choice for charging, and you’ll find a nice braided USB-C to USB-C cable in the box.
In the UK and some other markets, once again, no power adapter is provided. Although In the US, a 20W plug is in the box. You can use any 20W or faster USB-C plug, like the one that comes with a MacBook.
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Should you buy it?
You just want a tablet that gets it done
The is the best iPad for most people, simple. It is fast and capable, looks good and doesn’t miss out on much.
The best screen is what you’re after
The diaplay here is good – but it’s not great, and it’s not in the same league as the OLED panel on the iPad Pro.
Final Thoughts
Even though this is another minor spec-based upgrade for Apple’s mid-range tablet, the iPad Air M4 still impressed me. If you’re happy with an M2 or M3 version, there’s little reason to upgrade – but for those with older iPads who want a newer machine that can handle some rather intensive tasks, this is a great choice for the price.
This is a very fast tablet, with excellent performance, top-class connectivity and the 12GB memory should help it stay faster for longer.
This is still the best iPad and the best tablet (for most people). It has a better screen, chipset, and accessory portfolio than the base iPad, while also offering many of the same features as the pricier Pro series. With the iPad Pro, you do get a much better display and sleeker form factor, but I doubt the added cost will make it worth it for many.
How We Test
Unlike other sites, we thoroughly test every product we review. We use industry-standard tests in order to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever accept money to review a product.
- Tested for 5 days
- Thorough display testing in bright conditions
- Tested and benchmarked using respected industry tests and real-world data
FAQs
In the UK, there is no charger included – just a USB-C to USB-C cable. In other regions, like the US, a 20W plug is included.
Test Data
| Apple iPad Air M4 | |
|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 single core | 3726 |
| Geekbench 6 multi core | 13286 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU | 52607 |
| 3DMark Solar Bay | 12727 |
| GFXBench – Aztec Ruins | 60 fps |
| GFXBench – Car Chase | 60 fps |
Full Specs
| Apple iPad Air M4 Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £599 |
| USA RRP | $599 |
| Manufacturer | Apple |
| Screen Size | 11 inches |
| Storage Capacity | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Rear Camera | 12MP |
| Front Camera | 12MP |
| Video Recording | Yes |
| IP rating | No |
| Battery | 28.93 Whr |
| Fast Charging | Yes |
| Size (Dimensions) | x x INCHES |
| Weight | 462 G |
| Operating System | iPadOS 26 |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| First Reviewed Date | 09/03/2026 |
| Resolution | 2360 x 1640 |
| Refresh Rate | 60 Hz |
| Ports | USB-C |
| Chipset | Apple M4 |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Colours | Blue, Purple, Starlight, Space Grey |
