M4 chip · 11″ or 13″
iPad Air
Most of the Pro, for a lot less.
From $749 (11″) · $949 (13″)
Released March 2026 · 7 months ago
Best for
Work and study
Fast enough for anything office-like, with a proper Magic Keyboard and room for several windows.
Writing
With the Magic Keyboard it’s a light, focused writing machine that lasts all day.
Photo editing
Plenty of power for Lightroom and Photomator, and the 13″ gives you room to work.
Drawing and note-taking
Apple Pencil Pro with hover, at a much lower price than the Pro.
Think twice if…
- You want the smoothest screen. It’s 60 Hz with no ProMotion and no OLED; scrolling and drawing feel smoother on the Pro.
- You move a lot of big files. USB‑C at 10 Gb/s is fine for most people, but the Pro’s Thunderbolt port is four times faster.
Our take
For most people who want to do real work on an iPad, the Air is the sweet spot. The M4 chip and 12 GB of memory are plenty for writing, office work, photo editing and multitasking with an external display, and it works with Apple Pencil Pro and its own Magic Keyboard.
What you give up compared to the Pro is the OLED screen and ProMotion, Face ID, and the much faster Thunderbolt port.
Specs that matter
iPad features
- Apple Pencil
- Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil (USB‑C) · hover
- Keyboard
- Magic Keyboard for iPad Air
- External display
- One display, up to 6K at 60 Hz
- Port
- USB‑C (USB 3, up to 10 Gb/s)
- Apple Intelligence
- Yes
- Unlock
- Touch ID (top button)
- Cameras
- 12 MP wide · 12 MP landscape Center Stage front
- Cellular
- Optional 5G (eSIM only)
Display
- Screen size
- 11″ or 13″
- Display type
- Liquid Retina (LED)
- Refresh rate
- 60 Hz
- Sharpness & brightness
- 264 ppi · 500 nits (11″), 600 nits (13″)
Performance & storage
- Chip
- M4
- CPU / GPU
- 8-core CPU · 9-core GPU
- Memory
- 12 GB
- Storage
- 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB
Size & battery
- Weight
- 464 g (11″) · 616 g (13″)
- Thickness
- 6.1 mm
- Battery
- Up to 10 hours
- Speakers & mics
- Landscape stereo speakers
- Wireless
- Wi‑Fi 7 · Bluetooth 6
Recommended accessories
Keyboard
Magic Keyboard for iPad Air (M4)
A full keyboard and trackpad with a function row, made for iPad Air. The best way to type on an Air.
$269 (11″) · $319 (13″)View at AppleApple Pencil & stylus
Apple Pencil Pro
The best stylus for iPad, with squeeze, barrel roll and haptics. Works with iPad Pro, iPad Air and iPad mini.
$129View at AppleApple Pencil & stylus
Apple Pencil (USB‑C)
The affordable Apple Pencil for notes and sketches. No pressure sensitivity, but precise and fine for handwriting.
Other iPads
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