Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) vs Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4)
[ VERDICT ]
Winner: Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) (94/100)
Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) leads overall with a score of 94/100 compared to Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) (89/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.
Why choose Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4):
- + Higher DeviceBenchmark Score score (94 vs 89)
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Normalized Lab Scores| Benchmark | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| DeviceBenchmark Score | 89.0 Very Good | 94.0 Excellent WINNER |
| Gaming | 97.0 Excellent | — |
| Performance | 99.0 Excellent | 99.0 Excellent |
| Battery Life | — | 88.0 Very Good |
| Display | — | 99.0 Excellent |
| Portability | — | 96.0 Excellent |
Detailed Technical Specifications
Battery
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Battery cycles | 1000 cycles | — |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | — |
| Capacity | 10340 mAh | — |
| Fast charging | Yes (51% in 70 min) | — |
| Full charging time | 2:28 hr | — |
| Max charge power | 20 W | — |
| Replaceable | No | — |
| Reverse charging | No | — |
| Wireless charging | No | — |
Benchmarks
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 1732068 | — |
| GPU | 945613 | 10-core GPU with Mesh Shading & Dynamic Caching |
| Graphics score | 3027 | — |
| Graphics test | 22 FPS | — |
| Memory | 349993 | — |
| Multi-core score | 13702 | — |
| Section 1 | 59 FPS | — |
| Section 2 | 49 FPS | — |
| Section 3 | 38 FPS | — |
| Single-core score | 3738 | — |
| Total score | 3617960 | — |
| UX | 590286 | — |
Connectivity
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| 3G network | UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC‑HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) | — |
| 4G network | LTE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 48, 66, 71 | — |
| 5G support | Yes | — |
| Bluetooth features | LE | — |
| Bluetooth version | 6.0 | — |
| DisplayPort | Yes | — |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS | — |
| Hybrid slot | No | — |
| Infrared port | No | — |
| NFC* | No | — |
| Type of SIM card | eSIM | — |
| USB features | - Charging- USB-Storage mode- OTG | — |
| USB type | USB Type-C | — |
| USB version | 3.1 | — |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band- Wi-Fi MiMO- Wi-Fi Direct- Wi-Fi Hotspot- Wi-Fi Display | — |
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | — |
| eSIM support* | Yes | — |
Design and build
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 603 cm2(93.5 inches2) | — |
| Colors | Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple | — |
| Drop resistance | Bad (E) · 16 drops | — |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-button | — |
| Frame material | Metal | — |
| Height | 280.6 mm (11.05 inches) | — |
| Rear material | Metal | — |
| Repairability | Average (2.84/5) | — |
| Thickness | 6.1 mm (0.24 inches) | 5.1 mm (0.20 in) — Thinnest Apple Product |
| Waterproof | No | — |
| Weight | 616 g (21.73 oz) | 579 g (1.28 lbs) |
| Width | 214.9 mm (8.46 inches) | — |
Display
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | — |
| Aspect ratio | 4:3 | — |
| Contrast | 1563:1 | — |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | — |
| HDR support | No | — |
| Max rated brightness | 600 nits | — |
| PPI | 264 ppi | — |
| PWM | Not detected | — |
| RGB color space | 99.8% | — |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | — |
| Resolution | 2048 x 2732 pixels | — |
| Response time | 19 ms | — |
| Screen protection | Tempered glass | — |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 86.8% | — |
| Size | 13 inches | — |
| Type | IPS LCD | — |
| Display Type | — | Tandem OLED Ultra Retina XDR (2752 x 2064) |
| Refresh Rate | — | 120 Hz ProMotion, 1000 nits SDR/HDR (1600 nits peak) |
Main camera
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | — |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | — |
| 8K video recording | No | — |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | — |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | — |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode | — |
| Flash | No | — |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | — |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP | — |
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | — |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | — |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | — |
| Stabilization | Digital | — |
| Zoom | Digital | — |
Memory
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | 4 | — |
| Memory card | No | — |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | — |
| RAM size | 12 GB | — |
| Storage size | 128 GB | — |
| Storage type | NVMe | — |
Other
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | March 2026 | — |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 20 W | — |
| Category | Flagship | — |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $799 | — |
| Release date | March 2026 | — |
| Sensors | - Barometer- Gyroscope- Accelerometer- Ambient light sensor- Fingerprint | — |
Performance
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | - 6 cores at 2.85 GHz:- 4 cores at 4.41 GHz: | — |
| CPU cores | 10 (4 + 6) | — |
| Chipset | Apple M4 (iPad) | Apple M4 (9-core / 10-core CPU) |
| FLOPS | ~3763.2 GFLOPS | — |
| GPU clock | 1470 MHz | — |
| Graphics | 9 core Apple GPU | — |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | — |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | — |
| Max clock | 4410 MHz | — |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple Neural Engine | — |
| Gpu | 945613 | 10-core GPU with Mesh Shading & Dynamic Caching |
| Ram | — | 8 GB / 16 GB Unified Memory |
Selfie camera
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | — |
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | — |
| Sensor | CMOS | — |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS | — |
Software
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| OS size | 26 GB | — |
| OS updates | 0 years | — |
| Operating system | iPadOS 26.3 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) | — |
Sound
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | — |
| FM radio | No | — |
| Headphone audio jack | No | — |
| Speakers | Stereo | — |
Design
| Specification | Apple iPad Air 13" (3rd Gen, 2026) | Apple iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|---|
| Thickness | 6.1 mm (0.24 inches) | 5.1 mm (0.20 in) — Thinnest Apple Product |
| Weight | 616 g (21.73 oz) | 579 g (1.28 lbs) |
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