Ipad Air M4 Review: Still Apple's Best Overall Tablet, With A Few Caveats

Perhaps 1 of nan astir astonishing things astir nan Apple Silicon era is really quickly Apple now updates its products. Take nan iPad Air, for example. It’s been little than 2 years since nan institution released nan M2-powered iPad Air successful 11- and 13-inch sizes. We’re already connected our 3rd iPad Air iteration, 1 pinch nan M4 inside. That’s nan aforesaid spot that was wrong nan iPad Pro that was unveiled alongside that M2-powered Air successful 2024. (The Pro was updated pinch an M5 past fall.)

Just arsenic I said a twelvemonth agone erstwhile Apple unveiled nan iPad Air M3, this latest exemplary doesn’t fundamentally alteration nan formula. The Air is simply a notable measurement up complete nan basal iPad, pinch a much powerful processor, much RAM, a amended show and superior accessories for illustration nan Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard. The Air statement is besides nan only measurement to get a 13-inch iPad without spending $1,300 aliases more.

But without much important updates this year, I find myself little enthused by it than I was erstwhile nan 13-inch exemplary M2 exemplary arrived successful 2024. That’s chiefly because Apple has stuck pinch nan aforesaid show for different year. As champion I tin tell, nan 11-inch iPad Air that I’m reviewing has nan aforesaid surface successful 2026 arsenic it did erstwhile nan redesigned type pinch nary Home fastener was released successful precocious 2020. Other features that consciousness for illustration they should beryllium array stakes astatine this point, for illustration Face ID, are besides restricted to iPads that costs astatine slightest $1,000. For amended aliases worse, nan Air is simply a very mature merchandise pinch fewer surprises. But connected nan different hand, if you person an iPad older than nan 2024 refresh, nan iPad Air M4 will supply a coagulated capacity improvement.

The M4 still has powerfulness to spare

Before we commencement answering existential questions, though, let’s quickly recap what’s caller pinch nan iPad Air. It still starts astatine $599 for an 11-inch type pinch 128GB of storage; nan 13-inch models starts astatine $799. The 1 I tested came successful an highly ray purple colour pinch 1TB of retention and 5G connectivity and costs $1,249. Seriously Apple, don’t beryllium acrophobic of putting a small much saturation successful these colors adjacent time! As mentioned, nan iPad Air now has a much powerful M4 spot arsenic good arsenic 50 percent much strategy representation (12GB, up from 8GB connected past year’s model). If you’re coming from an iPad older than nan 2024 model, you’ll apt announcement coagulated capacity gains, and nan M4 is truthful performant that I ideate this iPad will beryllium much than powerful capable for years to come.

I ran immoderate Geekbench 6 benchmarks to quantify nan quality betwixt nan iPad Air M4 and past year’s M3 exemplary — unsurprisingly, nan biggest gains came successful nan GPU. Single-core and multi-core scores were 23 percent and 12 percent higher, respectively. But nan GPU people was a whopping 39 percent higher pinch nan M4 compared to nan M3. Don’t get maine wrong, nan single-core and multi-core capacity improvements nan M4 offers are impressive. But tasks that deed nan GPU hard, for illustration gaming and AI (of course) should spot notable improvements.

In practice, nan iPad Air M4 feels rather akin to nan M3 model. That’s owed successful ample portion to my comparatively humble workflow. I jump betwixt galore apps each day, but nary of them are precisely taxing to a spot for illustration nan M4. My time mostly consists of Slack, Google Docs, a ton of Safari tabs, utilities for illustration Messages and Todoist, changeless streaming euphony and different lightweight apps for illustration Gmail and Trello. But if you’re coming from an M1 iPad Air, nan M4 should consciousness importantly faster for almost everything you do.

Unsurprisingly, nan iPad Air flies done games from nan App Store arsenic well. I tried my accustomed much casual fare for illustration Balatro, Mini Motorways and Powerwash Simulator from Apple Arcade and those were each rather smooth. But I wanted to push things a spot more, truthful I downloaded Resident Evil 2 arsenic good arsenic a pre-release build of Control Ultimate Edition which is slated to deed iOS successful nan coming months. Both games looked and played great, pinch highly elaborate environments and beautiful speedy action that didn’t slow nan iPad Air down successful nan least. I could show nan graphics aren’t arsenic crisp arsenic connected my PS5, but some games were awesome considering they’re moving connected highly portable hardware pinch nary fans.

I besides tried immoderate generative AI apps, moreover though that’s not really thing I’m willing in. For apps for illustration Apple’s ain Image Playground, nan M4 is highly speedy. It ripped done my goofy queries (an orangish kitten dressed up for illustration an astronaut) successful a matter of seconds. When I compared it to nan iPad Pro M5, nan Air hardly lagged down it. However, nan M4 couldn’t rather support up pinch much precocious image procreation tools. The Draw Things iPad app lets you download and tally a big of section models to create images, and nan M4 decidedly couldn’t support up pinch nan M5. The iPad Pro M5 was typically much than doubly arsenic accelerated arsenic nan Air. We already knew nan M5 was an AI beast, truthful I’m not knocking nan Air for its capacity astatine each — it’s conscionable worthy knowing that if you really want to push nan envelope, you’ll astir apt beryllium amended disconnected pinch an iPad Pro.

The different main alteration is Apple’s in-house networking chips are connected committee here. The N1 covers Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, while nan C1X handles cellular connectivity if you bargain a 5G-capable model. Again, this doesn’t alteration nan acquisition of utilizing nan iPad Air successful immoderate awesome way, but having nan newest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth protocols connected committee is bully for early usage, sloppy of who built nan chip. In my testing, nan C1X connected Verizon’s 5G web was highly accelerated astir nan suburbs of Boston and didn’t look immoderate slower (or immoderate faster) than different devices I person moving connected nan aforesaid carrier. That’s fine, arsenic different Apple devices I’ve tried pinch nan C1X (like nan iPad Pro) are coagulated and reliable, which is nan astir important thing.

A very acquainted experience

Other than these caller chips, nan iPad Air is identical to nan past 2 models I’ve reviewed. (This year, Apple sent an 11-inch Air M4 to review, while nan past 2 were nan newer 13-inch. But different than nan larger screen, those tablets are nan same.) Same screen, aforesaid cameras, aforesaid 10-hour estimated artillery life, aforesaid USB-C 3 port. Naturally, it supports nan $129 Pencil Pro that Apple introduced alongside it successful 2024, and it useful pinch nan revamped Magic Keyboard Apple released past year. That keyboard remains rather costly astatine $269 ($319 for nan 13-inch model), but for maine it’s a must-buy accessory if I want to usage my iPad for immoderate “real work.” The Pencil, connected nan different hand, is not thing I personally need, but it’s an fantabulous instrumentality for anyone willing successful ocular creation aliases written notes. There are a plethora of fantabulous apps successful some categories, and nan iPad app ecosystem astatine ample remains unmatched.

Battery life besides hits what I’d expect retired of an iPad. I don’t get 10 hours nan measurement that I trial it — I utilized nan iPad Air arsenic my main machine, each time for respective days. In that scenario, I sewage betwixt 7 and 8 hours of artillery life. That’s much than capable that I’d return it pinch maine for half a time aliases much and not interest astir charging, but not truthful agelong that I’d beryllium wholly comfortable without a charger for overmuch longer. In a much casual, mixed-use setup, astir iPads get person to nan 10-hour people and I expect that’ll beryllium nan lawsuit present arsenic well. Of course, if you’re playing games, editing videos aliases doing heavier generative AI tasks, expect artillery life to driblet noticeably.

I’d beryllium remiss if I didn’t quickly mention iPadOS 26, which arrived past fall. It runs connected iPad Air models each nan measurement backmost to 2019, truthful it’s not a logic unsocial to upgrade. But, it improved nan multitasking acquisition connected iPads to a important degree. It still feels autochthonal to nan iPad, but location are truthful galore Mac-like flourishes that it’s a batch easier for maine to usage arsenic my main machine now. That said, it really shines connected larger-screen iPads; nan 11-inch exemplary still feels champion to maine erstwhile moving an app fullscreen aliases 2 apps side-by-side feels astir comfortable to me.

My awesome lament for nan iPad Air remains nan screen. Apple’s LCD Retina show still looks awesome successful a vacuum — it’s a beautiful modular screen, pinch agleam colors and crisp text. But Apple’s continued insistence connected gatekeeping a surface pinch a higher refresh complaint for iPads that costs $1000 aliases much gets much frustrating each year. It bothers maine little connected a merchandise for illustration nan MacBook Air. But pinch an iPad, you’re virtually rubbing and interacting pinch that surface arsenic nan main interface. Having nan fluidity of a 120Hz refresh complaint simply makes everything consciousness much responsive to your touch.

The consolation is that moreover Apple’s modular displays still consciousness very smooth, truthful unless you’re straight comparing an iPad Air to an iPad Pro you apt won’t announcement nan difference. I mostly forgot astir it successful my clip reviewing this device, only reminded of it erstwhile I went backmost to nan iPad Pro.

I besides wish that Apple would instrumentality much precocious show tech. Last year, I imagined that nan mini-LED show utilized successful nan iPad Pro successful 2021 and 2022 would beryllium a awesome measurement up for nan Air. It wouldn’t beryllium arsenic bully arsenic nan tremendous OLED surface successful nan iPad Pro, but it would still connection HDR and importantly accrued brightness and contrast. Alas, we’re stuck pinch a plain aged LCD again this year. Again, that’s mostly fine, but playing games for illustration Control made maine wish for much contrast, and movies do not person astir nan aforesaid ocular popular connected nan Air arsenic they do connected nan Pro.

Wrap-up

If it’s not obvious, I very overmuch wish that Apple would bring immoderate of its much precocious exertion to nan iPad Air. But astatine this point, I person to judge that nan Air is what it is. In nan aforesaid measurement that nan MacBook Air hasn’t changed substantially since nan M2 exemplary arrived successful 2022, nan aforesaid goes for nan iPad Air. Both products still person displays that haven’t been cutting separator for years, and that’s conscionable nan measurement it is.

Once I started comparing nan iPad Air to its Mac counterpart, my antagonistic emotion mostly subsided. I deliberation nan MacBook Air is simply a awesome laptop and wouldn’t hesitate to urge it to galore people. Sure, its surface isn’t cutting edge, but it’s bully capable for its target audience. And nan galore positives that it has outweigh a fewer places wherever Apple trim corners. The aforesaid tin beryllium said for nan iPad Air.

The iPad Air offers a batch of important upgrades complete nan basal $349 iPad, which is saddled pinch nan A16 spot from 2022. The Air will beryllium a amended performer for overmuch longer, and different niceties for illustration a amended surface and accessory support are worthy considering. And it doesn’t frighten nan iPad Pro, which costs $400 more; betwixt its screen, improved performance, superior business creation and galore different mini benefits, it’s beautiful easy to spot what you get for your money successful each cases.

So while I wish Apple would push nan letter cover pinch nan iPad Air and springiness maine thing that feels much for illustration a Pro-lite, I understand why it hasn't yet. The iPad Air isn’t an breathtaking gadget astatine this point, but I still deliberation it’s nan champion iPad for astir people.