The do-everything iPad: M4 power and Pencil Pro support, without the Pro tax.

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4)

Apple

For the vast majority of people, this is the right iPad: the M4 is the second-fastest tablet chip going, it takes the same Pencil Pro and keyboard as the Pro, and it costs far less. You give up OLED, 120Hz, and Face ID — worth it unless you're a creative pro or watch in the dark.

For most people, the 11-inch iPad Air is the right iPad, and the M4 version quietly makes it better. The chip is laptop-grade — benchmarks put it second only to the M5 iPad Pro — and Apple bumped the RAM to 12GB (up 50% from the M3), so heavy multitasking and AI tasks stay smooth. Critically, it takes the same Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard as the Pro, which is why so many students, note-takers, and digital artists land here. What you give up is mostly the screen. It's a 60Hz Liquid Retina LCD — bright, accurate, and laminated, but no OLED black levels, no ProMotion smoothness, and no HDR punch. You also get Touch ID rather than Face ID, a design unchanged since 2020, and a battery that reviewers measured draining faster than the OLED Pro under hard, max-brightness use. The honest tension: load it up with the Pencil Pro and keyboard and the 11-inch Air creeps toward 11-inch Pro money. But for the buyer who wants one capable, portable iPad for everyday creating and consuming — and would rather spend the difference on storage — the Air is the smart default, and the most-recommended iPad in the lineup."

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Last reviewed Jun 25, 2026

What we like

• ✓M4 is the second-fastest chip in any tablet — far more than everyday tasks need
• ✓12GB of RAM (up 50% from the M3) keeps heavy multitasking smooth
• ✓Takes the exact same Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard as the iPad Pro
• ✓Thin and light at 6.1mm / 464g, with the full iPadOS app library and Apple Intelligence
• ✓Wi-Fi 7 and an optional 5G modem for fast, reliable connectivity

Trade-offs

• −Still a 60Hz LCD — no OLED, no ProMotion, so scrolling and HDR can't match the Pro
• −Battery is the weak spot; under heavy max-brightness use it drains noticeably faster than the OLED Pro
• −Touch ID instead of Face ID, and the design hasn't changed since 2020
• −Storage still starts at 128GB, which fills fast if you edit video or photos