Apple iPad Air (M4) Review: The Ultimate iPad

The iPad Air has always had to walk on egg shells. It can’t step on the toes of the iPad Pro or MacBook Air. It can't go cheaper either, so as not to offend the base iPad. That's not to mention the brand-new MacBook Neo, which has been stealing the limelight and was introduced at the exact same price as the iPad Air. With all those competing products muddying the waters, you might be wondering where the iPad Air fits these days.

The 2026 iPad Air is the latest refresh in Apple’s iPad lineup, bringing the M4 chip into the mix. That is in line with the way Apple keeps the iPad one generation behind the MacBooks and iPad Pro. Is it a boring update? Absolutely. But the iPad Air remains a highly enjoyable tablet to use.

More Than You Need

In many ways, the iPad Air is the ultimate iPad. You might think that would be the iPad Pro, but given the price and advanced feature set, the iPad Pro really makes sense only for professionals who have a specific use case for the M5 performance, HDR-capable OLED screen, and more powerful USB-C port. Unless you plan to do something like bring your iPad out to a video shoot to handle multiple 4K live video streams, the iPad Pro is probably overkill. I’m not saying you won’t enjoy the insane brightness of the tandem OLED for videos, games, and movies—it just won't be a deal-breaker for most people.