OnePlus Pad Lite Vs iPad Air: How Do The Two Tablets Compare?

When you need something bigger than a phone but lighter than a laptop, a tablet is the obvious choice. Fortunately, there's an abundance of tablet models on the market today, so you won't run out of options. Two of those you might be considering are the iPad Air M4 and the OnePlus Pad Lite.

The iPad Air M4 is the latest addition to the iPad lineup, having been released in March 2026. The OnePlus Pad Lite is a bit older, introduced in July 2025. Between the two tablets, the OnePlus is significantly more affordable, as it costs £200 in the United Kingdom (the tablet isn't available in the United States). For the iPad Air, you'll be shelling out at least $749 (about £555) for the 11-inch 128-gigabyte Wi-Fi model.

On paper, the OnePlus tablet is clearly a cheaper Android tablet alternative to the iPad, but how exactly do the OnePlus Pad Lite and iPad Air M4 stack up in terms of performance and features? Let's look deeper into their major differences in both the hardware and software aspects to find out.

The OnePlus Pad Lite and the iPad Air M4 are different in a whole lot of ways, starting with their. Both include an 11-inch screen with 500 nits max brightness. But in terms of resolution, refresh rate, and pixel density, they're not as similar. The OnePlus features a resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels, an adaptive refresh rate up to 90 hertz (Hz), and a pixel density of 207 pixels per inch (ppi). Meanwhile, the iPad comes with 2360-by-1640 resolution, a 60 Hz refresh rate, and 264 ppi pixel density. The higher refresh rate makes the device feel more responsive, but the increased pixel density and resolution deliver crisper images and text, making them tablet display specs worth paying extra for.

Beyond the differences in display specs, accessory compatibility is another major factor that sets the iPad Air apart from the OnePlus Pad Lite. The iPad Air M4 works with the official Apple Pencil styluses and Magic Keyboard, plus offers support for third-party pencils and keyboards (both Smart Connector and Bluetooth models). The OnePlus Pad Lite, on the other hand, is compatible with Bluetooth keyboards but isn't designed to support an official stylus. It does work with basic capacitive pens, but they aren't as accurate and responsive and have no palm rejection.

Where the OnePlus Pad Lite has a slight edge over the iPad Air is in battery life. Thanks to its 9340-milliampere-hour (mAh) battery, the OnePlus tablet can last 11 hours for video playback or 80 hours for music playback. The iPad Air M4's 28.93-watt-hour battery, meanwhile, only has a runtime of 10 hours of web browsing or video playtime. The OnePlus Pad Lite is built with four Hi-Res Audio speakers, too, while the iPad Air has landscape stereo.

Naturally, the OnePlus Pad Lite and iPad Air M4 will have different software features due to their different operating systems. The OnePlus tablet runs on OxygenOS 15.0.1, which is based on Android 15, while the iPad Air M4 is powered by iPadOS 26. To keep things consistent, we'll focus on three main features: multitasking, note-taking and drawing, and phone sync.

Multitasking is pretty basic on the OnePlus Pad Lite. You can open two apps at the same time and resize them to fit your needs. Just like most other Android tablets, there's also an option to save the app pair, so you can reopen them together with just one tap. In comparison, multitasking is the iPad Air's major strength. It features a Windowed Apps mode, where you can launch, resize, and move multiple apps, just like how you would on a computer.

Moving on, the OnePlus Pad Lite isn't exactly the best tablet for note-taking since it lacks stylus support. You can still use the native Notes app, which comes with drawing and handwriting tools, but you'll have to resort to taking notes and drawing with your finger. As for the iPad Air, you're pretty set as long as you have an Apple Pencil (make sure to get the Pro if you'll be drawing). The iPad responds well to the official stylus and even offers hidden features like opening quick notes on the lock screen.

As for phone sync, the OnePlus tablet can actually compete with the iPad Air. You can screen mirror your OnePlus phone to the tablet for remote control and share clipboards and gallery between the devices. Apple doesn't natively support mirroring the iPhone screen to the iPad, but you can copy and paste between the two.