Apple's 2026 iPad Air comes fitted with an M4 chip. Yet, in contrast to the M4 chip used in the iPad Pro, this variant has one less performance core in its CPU and one fewer core in its GPU. Consequently, it offers an 8-core CPU configuration (comprising 3 performance cores and 5 efficiency cores) and a 9-core GPU. Nevertheless, the iPad Air stands out with its 12GB of unified memory, surpassing the 8GB available in the base model of the iPad Pro. The integration of the M4 chip significantly enhances the iPad Air's performance, with graphics processing now supporting second-generation hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing technologies. Additionally, there's a comprehensive boost in AI capabilities.
