Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4) Review - Sweet spot for work and play

We got our hands on the Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4), and in this review, we share our experience with the premium tablet after a month of daily use.

Apple iPad Air with Magic Keyboard and Pencil Pro

To recap, the new iPad Air 11-inch (M4) features a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, an Apple M4 chip, 12GB unified memory, and internal storage options of 128GB/256GB/1TB, and a 28.93Wh lithium-polymer battery with up to 30W peak fast charging via USB-C.

It comes with a 12MP f/1.8 rear-facing camera and a 12MP f/2.0 center-stage front-facing camera.

In the Philippines, the iPad Air 11-inch (M4) starts at PHP 42,990 for the WiFi-only 128GB variant.

Our iPad Air 11-inch (M4) is the 512GB WiFi-only variant.

Best value iPad of 2026?

Apple Pencil Pro and iPad Air 11-inch (M4) box inclusions

Inside the box are the iPad Air 11-inch (M4), documentation, 20W USB-C Power Adapter, and the 1-meter braided USB-C to USB-C cable. The Apple Pencil Pro came with documentation, too.

This generation of the iPad Air comes in a slim, flat-edge aluminum chassis with rounded corners. It measures 247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1mm, and it weighs 464 grams for the WiFi-only model.

Apple used 100 percent recycled aluminum in the unibody construction, and Apple is boasting that the tablet contains 30 percent recycled materials, including the battery, magnets, circuit boards, and more.

Other noteworthy build materials are the fully laminated Liquid Retina panel with antireflective coating and the Sapphire crystal lens cover.

Overall, the build quality is excellent and is exactly what Apple is known for - premium, minimalist, and reliable.

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4) in Blue

At the back of the tablet are the rear camera, Apple logo, and the Smart Connector (three CPU contacts near the bottom).

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4)'s top and bottom sides

On top of the tablet are two of the four speakers and the power key with the Touch ID sensor. At the bottom are the other two of the four speakers and the USB-C port.

Apple Pencil Pro and iPad Air 11-inch (M4)'s left and right sides

The left side of the tablet is smooth, while on the right side are the volume up, volume down, and the magnetic connector (for the Apple Pencil Pro).

Best Liquid Retina Display on a tablet yet?

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4)'s screen

In front is the aforementioned 10.86-inch Liquid Retina Display or LED-backlit Multi-touch display with IPS technology.

It has a resolution of 2360 x 1640, a 500 nits brightness, and an antireflective coating. Apple says that it comes with a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating and that it supports True Tone and the P3 wide color gamut.

It supports the Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil (USB-C), and Apple Pencil hover.

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4)'s screen on the Magic Keyboard

The images produced are bright, vibrant, and never overly saturated. Under direct sunlight, the screen remains legible. The touch screen responds quickly and accurately.

Only the iPad Pro matches the panel on the Air. It is not only brighter, but it is also faster with ProMotion. However, this was only obvious when placing both tablets side by side. The iPad Air's screen is still better than most tablet screens. However, we hope that in the next generation, Apple will give the Air ProMotion.

It has four speakers in total. Two on the left and two on the right, and they perform spectacularly for a thin tablet. It shines because it delivers balanced, clear sound with surprising bass and volume for its size. It has a maximum volume that is good enough for use in the bedroom, living room, or small office. At maximum volume, the sound is strained or compressed. We recommend staying at 80 percent when you can.

Like the screen, only the iPad Pro is better.

Specialized cameras

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4)'s rear 12MP camera

At the back of the M4 iPad Air is the 12MP f/1.8 rear camera with up to 5x digital zoom, Sapphire crystal lens cover, Autofocus, and 4K video recording. While in front is a 12MP f/2.0 Center Stage camera with Smart HDR 4 and 1080 video recording.

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4) rear camera sample

The images from the rear camera are surprisingly good. The detail, sharpness, contrast, and colors are some of the better shots we've seen from a tablet.

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4) Center Stage camera

The front-facing camera, however, produced images that are slightly softer and slightly less color accurate. There is a greenish tint in the shadow areas. Otherwise, it is a decent selfie image.

Overkill performance in a slim body?

For day-to-day usage and tasks such as web surfing, audio and video streaming, and social media, the iPad Air (M4) breezes through tasks like butter. Navigating through the UI, opening and switching between apps, and background play are nothing for the tablet.

Inside the tablet is the Apple M4 chip with 12GB unified memory and 120GB/s memory bandwidth. It features 8 CPU cores, 9 GPU cores, and 16 Neural Engine cores. It should offer improved graphics quality because of Ray tracing.

Apple iPad Air (M4) benchmark scores

AnTuTu, GeekBench, and GeekBench AI results

• AnTuTu - 3,170,423
• GeekBench - 3,715 single-core score; 13,297 multi-core score
• GeekBench AI - 5,182 Single Precision; 8,531 Half-Precision score; 6,776 Quantized score

Apple iPad Air (M4) Genshin Impact graphics settings

Apple iPad Air (M4) Wuthering Waves graphics settings

Gaming on the iPad Air (M4) is great. In both Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves, the default graphics settings are set to "High." We were playing games for extended periods from 30 to 120 minutes with almost no stuttering or slowdowns. The tablet did warm up, but never alarmingly hot.

Apple iPad Air (M4) Video Editing on CapCut

Apple iPad Air (M4) Photo Editing on Adobe Lightroom

Intensive productivity apps such as CapCut and Adobe Lightroom handle our 60MP, 80 MB RAW files and 1080p at 60fps and 4K at 30fps workloads well. It may be a different story for higher resolution and higher bit rate photo and video files.

The App Store's library of apps and games has been around for a long time now, and the majority of apps support the use of the Pencil Pro. However, some apps like CapCut Pad need to be optimized for Pen use. Especially when tweaking the timeline. Using touch for the CapCut Pad is flawless, though.

Middling battery life

iPad Air 11-inch (M4) Battery usage

As a daily driver tablet for work and some play, we expected the iPad Air 11-inch (M4)'s 28.93-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery to last up to 10 hours of web browsing on WiFi or watching video. In our usual 4K YouTube video loop test at 60 percent brightness and 60 percent volume, it lasted for 6 hours and 19 minutes without the Magic Keyboard, and with the Magic Keyboard, it lasted for 4 hours and 26 minutes.

In real-world use for work that is constantly connected to the internet and to the AirPods Pro and Pencil Pro via Bluetooth, we were getting consistently 6 hours of on-screen time without the Magic Keyboard. It would go down to 5 hours of on-screen time with the Magic Keyboard.

The included 20W USB-C wall adapter charges the tablet from 0 to 50 percent in 45 minutes, and it slows down when the battery reaches 80 percent charge. It takes 70 minutes to fully charge the tablet.

Apple iPadOS home screen

The tablet is running on iPadOS 26 with the Liquid Glass Design Language that features a translucent and refractive UI style with reflections, dynamic transformations, and fluid animations. 

Floating window multi-tasking

What was impactful for our workflow is the new enhanced File App, the new Preview App (macOS-like viewing, editing, and sharing PDFs and images), and the new Windowing and Multi-tasking System.

Apple Freeform's versatility

Apple's Journal App also added improved Apple Pencil optimizations, and the new Freeform is one of the best note-taking, drawing, and charting apps. The integration with the Apple Pencil is one of the best we've seen so far.

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch and iPad Air 11-inch (M4) using Sidecar

Ecosystem integration is as convenient and as seamless as ever. We can even use the iPad Air as a monitor for our MacBook Pro.

The Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro significantly expand the versatility of the iPad Air 11-inch (M4), transforming it from a pure tablet into a more powerful hybrid device for productivity and creativity. 

The Magic Keyboard turns the iPad into a laptop-like experience. It features a full-size backlit keyboard with excellent typing feel, a large multi-touch trackpad that supports gestures (swipe, pinch, tap, etc.), and a function row for quick access to brightness, volume, media controls, and more. This makes everyday tasks — writing documents, answering emails, spreadsheet work, or browsing—far more efficient and comfortable for extended sessions.

Apple iPad Air, Apple Pencil Pro, and Apple Magic Keyboard

Additionally, the Magic Keyboard includes a USB-C port for pass-through charging, allowing you to charge the iPad while keeping the keyboard attached without occupying the iPad’s own USB-C port. 

Complementing the keyboard, the Apple Pencil Pro adds a highly intuitive new layer of direct interaction with the UI. Beyond the traditional pressure, tilt, and hover capabilities, it introduces two standout gestures: Squeeze, Barrel Roll, and retains the Apple Pencil Hover.

Apple Intelligence is integrated all throughout iPadOS, and you can use it to polish emails, summarize long documents, or even rewrite notes in different tones. It can also clean up images from photos, and the generative tools in apps like Photos and Journal are easy to use and work well on-device for basic edits.

It also received the new N1 chip that upgraded the tablet's connectivity to WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The cellular model also got the C1X modem.

What I missed from my iPad Pro are FaceID and ProMotion. I do love Touch ID for purchases, but I prefer Face ID for the slightly faster lock screen unlock.

Overall, if you want portability and don't mind a smaller screen, the 11-inch is the sweet spot, but if you need more screen real estate, the 13-inch may be better for you.

Pros - Stunning display, slim and lightweight, Touch ID, Powerful performance for most people, Apple Pencil Pro integration is the best, Keyboard and Trackpad are useful, 11-inch size is portable

Cons - Shorter battery life with the Magic Keyboard, not ProMotion, no FaceID, Magic Keyboard and Trackpad are tight, thick, and heavy

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4) Specs

Display: 10.86-inch LED-backlit IPS Liquid Retina display with a 2360 x1640 resolution, 264 ppi, Wide color (P3), True Tone, antireflective coating, 500 nits brightness, fully laminated, supports Apple Pencil Pro & hover

CPU: Apple M4 chip with 8-core CPU (3 performance cores + 5 efficiency cores)

GPU: 9-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing

RAM: 12GB unified memory

ROM: 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB storage (non-expandable)

Back Camera: 12MP f/1.8 Wide camera, 5x digital zoom, 4K video recording up to 60 fps Selfie Camera: 12MP f/2.0 landscape-oriented Center Stage camera and 1080p video

Battery: 28.93 Wh rechargeable lithium-polymer

OS: iPadOS 26

Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Bluetooth 6, Apple N1 chip; optional 5G (sub-6 GHz) on Cellular models with Apple C1X modem

Sensors: Touch ID, three-axis gyro, accelerometer, barometer, ambient light sensor

Others: USB-C, Smart Connector (for Magic Keyboard), magnetic connector for Apple Pencil, stereo speakers, dual mics

Colors: Blue, Purple, Starlight, Space Gray

Dimensions: 247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1 mm

Weight: 464g (WiFi), 465g (WiFi + Cellular)

Price: PHP 42,990 (128GB WiFi), PHP 52,990 (128GB WiFi + Cellular)

Verdict

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4) 

The Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4) is probably the best iPad for the majority of people who want the perfect balance of screen real estate, slim profile, and performance. 

The combination of the M4 chip, 12GB unified memory, and fast internal storage allows the iPad Air to breeze through the majority of tasks, including light photo and video editing.

While the super slim 6.1mm profile and 464 gram weight make it compact and easy to grab and go.

And despite its thin profile, the Quad speakers produce great sound.

One of the biggest strengths of the iPad is the software and the ecosystem integration. The majority of apps are mature and refined to the point that they are a joy to use. This includes working with multiple Apple devices.

The Magic Keyboard and Pencil Pro make the iPad even more versatile by making interacting with the UI even more versatile and intuitive. The Magic Keyboard also has a USB-C port for pass-through charging. 

The new Apple Pencil Pro adds the squeeze and barrel roll gesture, which adds another layer of UI interaction, should the user need it.

What we wish Apple could improve is the higher battery consumption when attaching the Magic Keyboard. For the iPad to truly be a proper productivity monster, it has to last the workday.

Overall, if you do not need Face Unlock, LiDAR, and the faster and brighter screen of the iPad Pro, then the iPad Air (M4) could be for you.

Build/Design - 4.5

Multimedia Experience - 4.5

Cameras - 4.0

Performance 4.5

Average - 4.375

What do you guys think? Do you agree with us?