iPad Air M4 13-Inch Review: Almost the Smartest iPad Buy

Apple's 13-inch iPad Air is easier to understand than most tablets in the company's range. It takes a familiar design, adds a much stronger M4 chip, updates the wireless stack with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and keeps the price comfortably below the iPad Pro. That does not make it cheap, but it does make it one of the more coherent products in Apple's line-up.

The important point is not that this iPad Air is radically new. It is not. The chassis is effectively unchanged, the display is still a 60Hz LCD and the accessory story remains expensive. What Apple has done instead is reinforce the parts that matter most for long-term ownership: speed, connectivity, battery life and general polish. For many buyers, that is enough to make this the sensible iPad rather than the aspirational one.

The 13-inch iPad Air M4 starts at 869 euros with 128GB of storage, which is a more attractive entry point than the equivalent previous-generation model. That matters because the Air sits directly in the uncomfortable middle ground between basic iPads and the iPad Pro range. If it drifts too close to Pro pricing, the value argument weakens very quickly.

At this level, Apple is clearly pitching the tablet at buyers who want more than casual consumption hardware but do not need the full feature list of the Pro. Students, mobile creatives, professionals who want a second screen and anyone who keeps tablets for several years are the obvious audience. The M4 chip makes the long-term case particularly strong, even if many buyers will never truly stretch it.

There is no dramatic redesign here. The tablet keeps the same flat-sided aluminium construction, clean rear panel and broad, even bezels that have defined the iPad Air for several generations. In strict visual terms, that makes it less exciting than a true redesign would have been. In practical terms, it is still a good chassis.

At 6.1mm thick and 616g, the 13-inch model remains reasonably manageable for a tablet of this size. It is not light enough to hold aloft forever, but it is well balanced, and the bigger display area feels justified rather than cumbersome. Apple's materials and assembly are as good as expected, with no sense of flex or fragility.

The landscape-oriented front camera placement continues to make sense, especially for video calls and keyboard use. Touch ID remains integrated into the power button, the stereo speakers sit on the frame edges, and the rear Smart Connector still supports Apple's optional keyboard accessories. None of this is new, but it all still works.

The downside is cost. The Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro are both useful, but neither is remotely inexpensive. This is part of the wider Apple tax around the iPad ecosystem, and it still affects the Air just as much as the Pro.

The 13-inch Liquid Retina IPS LCD panel remains one of the Air's strengths and one of its frustrations. On the positive side, it is extremely well calibrated. Colour accuracy is excellent in both sRGB and P3, the white balance is close to target, brightness is strong enough for everyday use, and the panel is more than capable of serious photo or video work on the move.

Apple's colour management continues to be a major selling point. This is the kind of screen that looks natural, consistent and trustworthy rather than exaggerated. That matters more than headline saturation for people who actually edit content or spend long hours reading and writing on a tablet.

The problem is refresh rate. At this price, a 60Hz panel feels increasingly deliberate rather than defensible. For general use, it is still perfectly fine. Scrolling is smooth enough, video looks good and office work is unaffected. But once you have used a 120Hz display on an iPad Pro or even many cheaper devices elsewhere in the market, the limitation is hard to ignore. It is one of the clearest signs that Apple is carefully protecting the Pro tier.

The rear 12MP camera remains adequate rather than exciting. In good light it captures clean enough images with natural colour, and it can shoot 4K video at up to 60fps. That is more than enough for document capture, quick reference photos and occasional video use, which is realistically what most tablet owners need.

The front camera is far more important, and here the iPad Air makes a stronger case for itself. The 12MP landscape-positioned camera works well for meetings and calls, and Center Stage continues to be one of Apple's genuinely useful camera features. Keeping the subject framed during movement makes the device more pleasant to use in Zoom, Teams and similar apps.

In short, the photo hardware does not transform the tablet into a camera-first device, but it is sensible, well judged and strong where tablets actually need to be strong.

The step forward in wireless connectivity is one of the most useful changes in this generation. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 finally arrive on the iPad Air, which makes the tablet feel meaningfully more current even if many home networks cannot yet take full advantage of the new standard. Buyers who already own compatible routers will see the benefit sooner, but the bigger point is future-readiness.

Apple also adds Thread support for smart-home use and keeps 5G on cellular versions, albeit through eSIM only rather than physical SIM support. That may annoy some travellers or buyers tied to more conservative network providers, but it aligns with the direction Apple has been heading for a while.

Wired connectivity remains simple but useful. The USB-C port supports 10Gbps transfers and external displays up to 6K at 60Hz. It is not the more advanced Thunderbolt setup reserved for the iPad Pro, but for most buyers it is more than adequate.

The M4 chip is the real reason this iPad Air matters. Apple has moved the Air onto hardware that, not long ago, would have felt excessive even in a premium laptop. Everyday use is effortlessly smooth, creative apps have serious headroom, and the tablet feels likely to remain fast for years.

Benchmark performance underlines that point. The CPU and GPU scores are comfortably strong for this class, and real-world tasks benefit too. Multitasking is easy, demanding productivity apps feel instant, and even sustained creative work such as 4K editing is well within reach. Thermal behaviour is also respectable for a passively cooled tablet.

The irony is that most Air buyers do not need this much performance right now. That is not a criticism. It is exactly what gives the device its longevity. If you are upgrading from an M1 iPad Air, or from any older A-series iPad, the jump is substantial. If you already own an M3 Air, the case for upgrading is far weaker.

Battery life is solid rather than spectacular, but that is still a compliment in a large tablet. The measured mixed-use result of close to ten hours translates into a device that can comfortably get through a working day of browsing, writing, streaming and light creative work.

The M4 chip appears to help efficiency more than headline battery size would suggest, and that improves the sense of confidence around all-day use. It is not the kind of device that leaves you constantly checking the battery icon.

Charging is less impressive. With a 20W adapter, a full refill takes roughly two and a half hours, and the short top-up gains are modest. That is acceptable in tablet terms, but it is not especially competitive in a world where even mid-range phones charge much faster. The missing charger in the box does not help.

The 13-inch iPad Air M4 does not try to be the most exciting tablet Apple makes. It tries to be the one that makes the most sense, and in many ways it succeeds. The M4 chip gives it enormous long-term performance headroom, the display is extremely accurate, the build quality remains excellent, and the jump to Wi-Fi 7 makes it feel more future-proof than the previous generation.

The trade-offs are familiar. You still have a 60Hz LCD panel, Touch ID instead of Face ID, slow charging and accessories that cost far too much. Even so, the overall balance is convincing. Unless you specifically need the iPad Pro's OLED display, 120Hz refresh rate or Thunderbolt connectivity, the iPad Air M4 is likely the smarter buy for most people.