When I said in my first impressions piece of the iPad Air M4, about the machine having Mac muscle in an iPad body, I knew Apple’s latest offering has all the raw hardware and power you’d ever need in a tablet. What I didn’t expect was how supremely polished the experience is. Right away, I am going to straight off put it out there that the ‘120Hz ProMotion’ screen is the only thing that separates the iPad Air M4 from the iPad Pro model. Now, don’t get me wrong, the iPad Pro M5 is a loaded tablet, and it comes with all the bells and whistles. Folks who want the absolute killer machine in terms of productivity and entertainment are still going to find the iPad Pro much appealing.
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That said, the iPad Air M4 costs significantly less than the iPad Pro, and for what it’s worth, for any task you can think of, the M4 Air is more than capable of getting it done. I have been using Apple’s latest mid-budget (can we call it mid-budget, though?!) tablet for over a week now, and here’s my full review. Let’s dive in.
I want you to take a moment and think, what is the definition of a power-packed tablet for you? While you make your own list, let me share my take with you.
By the way, did I mention the design? Because all the aforementioned stuff goes to the drain if the look, ergonomics and all that stuff are not taken care of.
In the case of the iPad Air M4, I have the 13-inch model. I know the size can sound intimidating at first. But, this tablet, I tell you, is so good; whether it’s in terms of how it looks, how nimble it feels to use when you hold it or how slim it is, that you just don’t realise that this is a 13-inch piece of slab we are talking about.
The product photos that you see in this review might make you think that I have propped it up with a support at the back. Nope! The iPad Air M4 is standing on its own, on a flat table, which only shows how well balanced the weight distribution is on this thing that is so big and so slim.
I also think this muted purple shade is the best iPad Air colour of the lot. From certain angles at how light hits it, it sometimes looks like silver, sometimes a very light shade of blue, and sometimes this absolutely lovely shade of mauve. The last one is obvious.
The iPad Air M4 is ‘the’ modern tablet in terms of everything you’ll ever need. As I said, the iPad Pro M5 is in a different league of its own, and it has its own takers. But the iPad Pro also starts at Rs 1 lakh, or Rs 1.3 lakh for the 13-inch model. The iPad Air starts at Rs 64,900 for the 11-inch model and Rs 84,900 for the 13-inch model. Sure, the base model only comes with 128GB of storage and only with Wi-Fi, but I’d say it is more than enough and hear me out.
Granted, Apple sent me the cellular version of the iPad Air with 1TB of storage, and it gives me all the peace of mind in the world that my machine is not reliant on any Wi-Fi connection or any external storage. And if you are the person who has this kind of a need and a budget of Rs 1.5 lakh, please go all in and get the fully loaded iPad Air, no questions asked.
However, in my opinion, buying the base Wi-Fi version makes the most amount of sense. For one, you get the same power of the M4 chip paired with superfast 12GB RAM. Second, after you buy the base iPad Air for about Rs 85,000, you can put in the extra cash to get the Magic keyboard, the Apple Pencil Pro, and a 1TB external SSD. Finally, most of us always have access to Wi-Fi, and there’s also 5G on our phones, so only if it’s absolutely necessary, you don’t really need the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
Fun fact, everything combined, the total BOM for a Wi-Fi 128GB iPad Air M4, paired with a Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil Pro and a 1TB SSD, is Rs 1,42,900. Once again, the 1TB cellular version of Air M4 costs Rs 1,49,900 without all the additional stuff. Pick your poison.
By now, we have established how good the iPad Air M4 is in terms of design, ergonomics and also, the variant which may suit you best. But the core experience of an M4-powered iPad Air is in its performance, and you get loads of it here.
How does the iPad Air M4 fit into my daily lifestyle? Well, for testing purposes, I have put in all sorts of stuff. I have the usual productivity suite of apps, photo and video editing apps, games and the likes. With iPadOS 26, the software experience has been very fluid. What you get is the core iPad experience, but on top of it, the ability to now run windowed versions of your apps, like Safari, YouTube, and Outlook, etc., just as I’d do on a Mac, is extremely convenient. On top of it, the ability to resize windows and place them anywhere on the screen adds to the level of detail here. Also, in 2026, how can we not talk about AI, and AI, aka Apple Intelligence, is all here. Now, what’s my use case of AI? Not so much. I mostly use ‘AI’ via Gemini or ChatGPT, and that too for research purposes. I still feel AI has a long way to go in terms of practical usage on phones and computers.
That said, in terms of future proofing, the M4 chip has a 38 TOPS NPU. So, while we may not see the chipset’s importance right now from an ‘AI’ perspective, trust me, it’s going to show its true worth in the coming years. In fact, creators who’d use this machine for video editing purposes will actually appreciate all of this on the iPad Air M4 right now.
Speaking of which, there’s a battery test video I did featuring the Galaxy S26 Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro Max. To give you context, that 4K video, with multiple layers of timeline, was originally edited on a MacBook Pro M3 Max. So, to test out Apple’s claims about the iPad Air being all mighty and powerful, I asked my video editor to export that same timeline on the Air M4. That video, which is about 10 minutes long, was exported in Final Cut Pro in a matter of 11 minutes and 29 seconds. Mind you, the Mac took 7 minutes 21 seconds to do it. And yes, in doing so, the battery level on the iPad Air also dropped from 49 per cent to 25 per cent, but the sheer amount of power that’s available at your disposal is commendable. For creators, I am not saying this is going to replace your Mac or a PC, but in situations, if you ever voluntarily want to simply carry this iPad without any computer for editing purposes, this machine has all the oomph under the hood that you’d need.
I also wanted to test the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro as well, but I haven’t received them from Apple. But, even as a standalone device, this machine is absolutely fire when it comes to performance.
Even for gaming purposes, I’ve loaded it up with games like WWE 2K25 Netflix Edition and Genshin Impact. The output is top-notch. There’s barely ever a time when I see that the Air M4 is struggling or lagging. There are hardly any frame drops or anything. Yes, the system does get warm to the touch under load, but nothing beyond that. In fact, even when I exported the battery test video I earlier mentioned, the iPad did get warm to the touch, but not toasty that it felt uncomfortable to the touch. So, thermal management as well as the raw performance is bang on.
I only wish that Apple dealt with the fact that the Air M4 only has a 60Hz display. A 120Hz panel on this thing would’ve flipped the script totally. But then again, the ProMotion tech is one of the key features that distinguishes the iPad Pro models from the other iPads. Unless Apple comes up with something other than that’s more than groundbreaking, maybe we’ll then have a 120Hz display on an Air too, with a later model down the line.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a tech enthusiast. I test a whole lot of stuff here and there. And one of the key reasons I like interacting with mobile screens and computer screens is high refresh rate panels. For most folks, the 60Hz display would be more than enough. Heck, many around me aren’t even able to distinguish between a 60Hz and 120Hz display, so there’s that.
Plus, otherwise, this is a brilliant 13-inch panel on the iPad Air M4. It is sharp, vibrant and quite bright. In the Digit Test Labs, it was able to hit 745 nits in peak brightness, so whether it’s indoors or even outdoors, depending on how you use it, you will absolutely love the viewing experience on this thing.
Finally, for those who care about the benchmarks, well, here are some of the scores. For what it’s worth, the numbers are top-tier and something that reflects in the real-world performance too.
The iPad Air M4 offers top-notch performance, and it offers top-notch battery life as well. While Apple has been claiming the same battery life on the Air for years, in the real-world, the endurance may differ on this thing on how you use it. Let me explain.
In my 10 days of using this machine, I have managed to charge this device 4 times, and I have learnt a few things about its behaviour. If I am using this machine for browsing related stuff on the internet, for watching content and the likes, in the initial 6 days, that was my use case; I had to charge it in 3 days. So, I am talking about a full 100% charge, with around 3 hours of usage every day.
In another scenario, I hooked up the iPad Air with a keyboard and mouse and actually did my Mac stuff on this machine. So, I wrote articles and scripts on this machine, I edited a few photos, watched content before going to bed, and did the usual browsing; the iPad lasted me a full day. Note, I started my day at 10 am, with 100% battery, and by the end of the night, there was around 15% left in the tank.
Now, on a separate occasion, while I am writing this, the iPad Air M4 has 12 per cent battery left. I basically used this charge cycle to run benchmarks and export the video file in FCP. Naturally, the battery drop was faster. Which means, if you will use this machine for video-editing purposes, and I am not counting gaming right now. The battery drop during gaming is not that drastic. But, during video editing, while the power is all there, the battery drain is real. On a full charge, if you are editing a heavy 4K video on this thing, expect it to last around 3 hours on a stretch. In that case, if you can carry a workload like this while plugged into the charger, nothing like it.
The iPad Air M4 is, without a doubt, a phenomenal piece of kit. Apple has delivered Mac-level performance in a stunningly designed, ultra-slim tablet body. However, as I said in my first impressions piece too, a tablet can’t replace a computer and vice versa. But for what’s on offer with the Air M4, if you want a top-tier tablet experience without shelling out the cash on the Pro model, this is the one to go for.
Of course, the iPad Pro M5 still reigns supreme for absolute power users, largely due to that 120Hz ProMotion display; the iPad Air M4 is practically for everyone else. The M4 chip offers a pure powerhouse experience, handling everything from basic web browsing to heavy 4K video editing, where it genuinely impresses. Coupled with its excellent battery life for standard use and brilliant display, the Air M4 makes the higher-priced Pro model a hard sell for the majority.
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If you’re looking for a top-tier machine that nails the fundamentals and offers incredible value, the 13-inch iPad Air M4 is, without a shadow of a doubt, bang on.
