Apple iPad Air 11-inch M4 review: the middle iPad with 12 GB of RAM

I have to start with the price, because launch coverage and Apple's store don't match.

Apple's store lists $749 for the 128GB Wi-Fi model (November 1, 2026). You'll see $599 in Tom's Guide's launch coverage. That's the older figure. Trust the store.

Everything else below comes from Apple's spec page and published reviews, and the 8.1 is my opinion from them.

What you get for the money

Apple's specs: 12 GB of unified memory, an M4 chip, a 464 g body for the 11-inch Wi-Fi model, and 128, 256, 512 GB or 1 TB of storage. The memory matches the lower-storage models of the 11-inch iPad Pro, which is why this tablet sits well above the base iPad. The base iPad 11 is the tablet to compare it with.

Tom's Guide calls it the best iPad for most people. It cites the M4 speed, the 12 GB of RAM and Wi-Fi 7, and a price it called the same as the old M3 model's at launch. That's a reviewer's recommendation, and I tend to agree.

Screen and battery

Apple lists the 11-inch panel at 500 nits, with P3 colour and an antireflective coating. The 13-inch goes to 600. Apple doesn't list a 120 Hz mode, which matters if you scroll a lot. The Pro does it better.

Battery is rated at up to 10 hours of web browsing or video on Wi-Fi, and 9 on cellular. The cell is 28.93 Wh Wh. Tom's Guide measured 9 hours 44 minutes in its own battery test of the 11-inch M4 Air, a little under Apple's figure and about three minutes more than it recorded for the M3 Air. Don't expect a jump over the older model.

The Pencil question

It works with the Apple Pencil Pro and the USB-C Apple Pencil, including hover. Neither pencil is included, as far as I can tell from Apple's page. Add that to your budget if you draw or take handwritten notes. My tablet roundup for drawing and note-taking compares it with Samsung's S Pen tablets.

What I'd change

• A 128 GB base is tight for anyone who downloads video or art files.
• The 11-inch screen is dimmer than the 13-inch by 100 nits.
• iPadOS is still not a laptop operating system. If you want one device for school, read tablet or laptop.

Who should buy

Buy it if you want one iPad to last several years and will use a Pencil. Skip it if you mainly stream and read, since the cheaper iPad does that. And if you want AMOLED, see iPad Air M4 vs Galaxy Tab S11. The tablet itself is in the catalog.