iPad Air equipped with M4 chip. Expert: 12GB RAM ensures smooth AI
The newly released M4 iPad Air features 12GB of RAM to handle on-device AI applications smoothly. Experts note that despite rising component costs, Apple maintained the price, making it a highly cost-effective choice for consumers wanting flagship AI experiences.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 19, 2026 at 16:16
- 🔍 Collected: April 19, 2026 at 16:31 (15 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 17:49 (1h 18m after Collected)
(Central News Agency, reporter Wu Chia-hao, Taipei 19th) The iPad Air tablet equipped with Apple's in-house M4 chip recently went on sale in Taiwan. A 3C technology expert pointed out after actual testing that against the backdrop of rising memory prices and the full-scale landing of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, Apple still upgraded the memory of the M4 version of the iPad Air from 8GB in the previous generation to 12GB to ensure the smooth operation of AI functions.
The M4 chip uses an 8-core central processing unit (CPU) and supports dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Running the CPU performance test on the M4 version iPad Air via the benchmark software Geekbench 6, the single-core score is 3725, an increase of about 22% compared to the M3 version; the multi-core score is 13356, an increase of about 12% compared to the M3 version.
The graphics processing unit (GPU) performance test score for the M4 iPad Air is 52652, close to the level of the M4 iPad Pro.
However, simple benchmark scores can hardly define the current tablet market. 3C tech expert and editor-in-chief of the YouTube channel "Yi Ge's Tech Life," Yi Ge, told a Central News Agency reporter that in the past, Apple's in-house chips were jokingly said to have excess performance. Now that AI applications are more popular, computing performance has become a rigid demand. The M4 chip, equipped with a powerful neural engine, can support on-device AI computing. When actually operating "image background removal" or "real-time transcriptions" on the iPad Air, the response speed reaches almost zero delay.
As global memory production capacity tilts towards High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) in 2026, the price of consumer-grade memory remains high, putting pressure on the costs of electronic products. Yet, Apple raised the unified system memory of the M4 iPad Air to 12GB, an increase of 50% from the previous generation, while maintaining the starting price at NT$19,900.
Yi Ge analyzed that this is not Apple being "generous," but to ensure that Apple Intelligence and third-party AI APPs can run smoothly on the device; 12GB of memory has become the basic threshold. Larger memory also significantly impacts the product life cycle, potentially extending the time before consumers need a replacement, allowing one purchase to last for several years.
Actually testing the M4 iPad Air playing the AAA game "Resident Evil 8: Village" with display settings such as screen resolution, frame rate, texture quality, and mesh quality turned to maximum, it occupies about 11.69GB of memory, highlighting that the built-in 12GB memory can indeed provide a richer gaming experience.
Compared to Android camp tablets, Yi Ge believes that although companies like Samsung are more advanced in display technology, Apple excels in ecosystem hardware and software integration. For example, the rendering speed when using video editing software like Final Cut Pro is extremely fast, giving the iPad Air a continuing advantage as a productivity tool.
Yi Ge pointed out that compared to the flagship iPad Pro, the M4 iPad Air still lacks an OLED screen and ProMotion adaptive refresh rate technology. When reading under strong light or swiping the screen quickly, the iPad Air's LCD screen has a sense of ghosting and a disadvantage in contrast.
"The iPad Air has gotten stronger, which ironically makes the iPad Pro's existence more valuable," Yi Ge said frankly. Under the precise market segmentation strategy of Apple CEO Tim Cook, the division between the iPad Air and iPad Pro is more obvious. Users pursuing the ultimate screen experience and full features will be more motivated to go straight for the iPad Pro, while students and office workers with limited budgets can get an AI experience closest to the flagship with "high cost-effectiveness" on the iPad Air.
Yi Ge stated that affected by rising component costs such as memory, the upward trend in prices of electronic products is expected to continue until 2030. Apple has maintained a relatively stable price on the new iPad Air, making the M4 iPad Air the choice with the most investment value at this stage. (Editor: Su Chih-tsung) 1150419
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The M4 chip uses an 8-core central processing unit (CPU) and supports dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Running the CPU performance test on the M4 version iPad Air via the benchmark software Geekbench 6, the single-core score is 3725, an increase of about 22% compared to the M3 version; the multi-core score is 13356, an increase of about 12% compared to the M3 version.
The graphics processing unit (GPU) performance test score for the M4 iPad Air is 52652, close to the level of the M4 iPad Pro.
However, simple benchmark scores can hardly define the current tablet market. 3C tech expert and editor-in-chief of the YouTube channel "Yi Ge's Tech Life," Yi Ge, told a Central News Agency reporter that in the past, Apple's in-house chips were jokingly said to have excess performance. Now that AI applications are more popular, computing performance has become a rigid demand. The M4 chip, equipped with a powerful neural engine, can support on-device AI computing. When actually operating "image background removal" or "real-time transcriptions" on the iPad Air, the response speed reaches almost zero delay.
As global memory production capacity tilts towards High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) in 2026, the price of consumer-grade memory remains high, putting pressure on the costs of electronic products. Yet, Apple raised the unified system memory of the M4 iPad Air to 12GB, an increase of 50% from the previous generation, while maintaining the starting price at NT$19,900.
Yi Ge analyzed that this is not Apple being "generous," but to ensure that Apple Intelligence and third-party AI APPs can run smoothly on the device; 12GB of memory has become the basic threshold. Larger memory also significantly impacts the product life cycle, potentially extending the time before consumers need a replacement, allowing one purchase to last for several years.
Actually testing the M4 iPad Air playing the AAA game "Resident Evil 8: Village" with display settings such as screen resolution, frame rate, texture quality, and mesh quality turned to maximum, it occupies about 11.69GB of memory, highlighting that the built-in 12GB memory can indeed provide a richer gaming experience.
Compared to Android camp tablets, Yi Ge believes that although companies like Samsung are more advanced in display technology, Apple excels in ecosystem hardware and software integration. For example, the rendering speed when using video editing software like Final Cut Pro is extremely fast, giving the iPad Air a continuing advantage as a productivity tool.
Yi Ge pointed out that compared to the flagship iPad Pro, the M4 iPad Air still lacks an OLED screen and ProMotion adaptive refresh rate technology. When reading under strong light or swiping the screen quickly, the iPad Air's LCD screen has a sense of ghosting and a disadvantage in contrast.
"The iPad Air has gotten stronger, which ironically makes the iPad Pro's existence more valuable," Yi Ge said frankly. Under the precise market segmentation strategy of Apple CEO Tim Cook, the division between the iPad Air and iPad Pro is more obvious. Users pursuing the ultimate screen experience and full features will be more motivated to go straight for the iPad Pro, while students and office workers with limited budgets can get an AI experience closest to the flagship with "high cost-effectiveness" on the iPad Air.
Yi Ge stated that affected by rising component costs such as memory, the upward trend in prices of electronic products is expected to continue until 2030. Apple has maintained a relatively stable price on the new iPad Air, making the M4 iPad Air the choice with the most investment value at this stage. (Editor: Su Chih-tsung) 1150419
Choose to stand with facts, your every sponsorship is the power to guard press freedom
Download Central News Agency 'First-hand News' APP, grasp the latest news instantly
The text, pictures, and audio/video on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, publicly transmitted, or utilized without authorization.