iPad Air M4 (2026) Review: The iPad Pro Killer From Within

Apple has a problem, and its name is the iPad Air M4.

The 2026 iPad Air is so good that it makes the $999 iPad Pro M4 genuinely hard to recommend to anyone who isn’t a professional artist or video editor. At $599, the Air M4 brings the same M4 chip as the Pro (with a slight GPU downgrade), bumps RAM to 12GB, adds Wi-Fi 7 via the N1 chip, and introduces Apple’s C1X cellular modem. The display is still LCD instead of OLED, but everything else is closing the gap fast.

M4 Chip + 12GB RAM: Finally Breathing Room

The biggest upgrade over the iPad Air M3 isn’t the chip — it’s the RAM. The M3 Air shipped with 8GB, which felt cramped for serious multitasking. The M4 Air jumps to 12GB, a 50% increase that makes Split View with demanding apps (say, Safari + Procreate + Notes) feel genuinely smooth.

Performance-wise, Apple claims 30% faster overall compared to the M3 version. In practice, the M4 chip handles everything iPadOS can throw at it. Stage Manager with four apps? Smooth. Importing and editing RAW photos in Lightroom? Quick. Playing Resident Evil Village? Solid 30fps at high settings.

The 9-core GPU is one core fewer than the iPad Pro M4’s 10-core GPU. In benchmarks, that’s a measurable difference. In reality, unless you’re rendering 3D models or doing sustained GPU-heavy work, you won’t notice.

Wi-Fi 7 and C1X Modem: Connectivity Leap

The N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 to the Air, matching the MacBook Air M5 in wireless capabilities. Downloads are noticeably faster on compatible networks, and AirDrop transfers to other Apple devices feel almost instant.

The cellular models get Apple’s C1X modem — the same second-gen chip in the iPhone 17e. It’s up to 50% faster than the Qualcomm modem in the previous Air while using 30% less power. If you use your iPad on cellular, this is a meaningful quality-of-life improvement.

Display: Still LCD, Still Good Enough

Here’s the one area where the iPad Pro clearly wins. The Air’s 11-inch Liquid Retina LCD display is bright (500 nits), colorful, and sharp. But it’s not OLED. No true blacks, no HDR peak brightness, no ProMotion 120Hz.

For most users — reading, browsing, streaming, even drawing — the LCD is perfectly fine. For professional color grading, HDR video editing, or anyone who’s been spoiled by an OLED screen, the Pro’s Ultra Retina XDR display remains worth the upgrade.

Apple Pencil and Keyboard

Full Apple Pencil Pro support with hover detection. The new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air (sold separately, of course) gets a function row and a larger trackpad compared to last year’s model. The typing experience is excellent for a tablet keyboard, though the $299 price stings.

Build and Design

Same four colors: Blue, Purple, Starlight, Space Gray. Same aluminum unibody. Same Touch ID in the power button (no Face ID — that’s still Pro-exclusive). At 462g for the 11-inch model, it’s light enough for one-handed use without fatigue.

The Pro Comparison

Feature	iPad Air M4	iPad Pro M4
Price	$599	$999
Chip	M4 (9-core GPU)	M4 (10-core GPU)
RAM	12GB	8GB (base)
Display	LCD 60Hz	OLED 120Hz ProMotion
Face ID	No	Yes
Speakers	2	4
LiDAR	No	Yes

The Air actually has more RAM than the base Pro. Let that sink in. For $400 less, you get a faster processor (effectively equivalent), more memory, and sacrifice the display and Face ID. For 80% of iPad users, that’s an easy trade.

The Verdict

The iPad Air M4 is the iPad to buy in 2026. Not the Pro, not the base iPad, not the mini — this one. The M4 chip with 12GB RAM handles everything iPadOS offers, Wi-Fi 7 future-proofs the connectivity, and $599 is a reasonable price for this much hardware.

The only people who should spend $400 more on the Pro are those who genuinely need the OLED display, Face ID, or quad speakers. Everyone else — students, casual users, even many professionals — will be perfectly served by the Air.

OnVerdict Score: 9.1/10 — The iPad for everyone who doesn’t need “Pro.”

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