Home > Tablet comparison > Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5 vs Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026) – which one to choose?

Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5 vs iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)

87 out of 100
Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5
VS
85 out of 100
Apple iPad Air 11
Legion Tab Gen 5
iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)

Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 8.8-inch Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on March 18, 2026, against the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026), which is powered by Apple M4 (iPad). On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5
  • Water-resistant body (IP52 classification)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 165 Hz
  • 55% higher pixel density (408 vs 264 PPI)
  • Comes with 1394 mAh larger battery capacity: 9000 vs 7606 mAh
  • Supports higher wattage charging (68W versus 20W)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 2048GB
  • 34% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (4171K versus 3116K)
  • Delivers 9% higher peak brightness (558 against 510 nits)
  • Much smaller footprint: 40% more compact case (41.1 vs 68.5 square inches)
  • Weighs 104 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
  • Has a 2.2 inches larger screen size
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5 and Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026) crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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πŸ“± Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 128 GB
41.5
(Average)
Value Index
62.8
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Tablet:
Legion Tab Gen 5
vs
iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)

Display

Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Size 8.8 inches 11 inches
Resolution 1904 x 3040 pixels 1640 x 2360 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:10 3:2
PPI 408 ppi 264 ppi
Refresh rate 165 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 600 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 800 nits -
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision No
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 84.6% 81.5%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.6%
PWM Not detected Not detected
Response time 21 ms 22 ms
Contrast 1098:1 1140:1
Screen space comparison
iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
11β€³ (3:2 ratio) = 55.8 in2
Legion Tab Gen 5
8.8β€³ (16:10 ratio) = 34.8 in2
~60% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 206.46 mm (8.13 inches) 247.6 mm (9.75 inches)
Width 128.5 mm (5.06 inches) 178.5 mm (7.03 inches)
Thickness 7.59 mm (0.3 inches) 6.1 mm (0.24 inches)
Weight 360 g (12.7 oz) 464 g (16.37 oz)
Waterproof IP52 No
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Green Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple
Fingerprint scanner No Yes, in-button
Area 265 cm2 (41.1 inches2) 442 cm2 (68.5 inches2)
Repairability - Average (2.85/5)
Drop resistance - Bad (E) Β· 42 drops
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (15th and 23rd place)
iPad Ranking (#6th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5 and Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Apple M4 (iPad)
Max clock 4600 MHz 4410 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 10 (4 + 6)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime		 - 6 cores at 2.85 GHz:
- 4 cores at 4.41 GHz:
L3 cache 8 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 9 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 1536 -
GPU clock 1300 MHz 1470 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~3763.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5 and Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 27090 52952
Single-core score 3625 3717
Multi-core score 10751 13294
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 1161389 915032
GPU 1577484 1135331
Memory 444460 349968
UX 987775 715682
Total score 4171108 3116013
Samples Less than 3 [2 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Graphics test - 23 FPS
Graphics score - 3099
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 46 FPS
Section 1 - 59 FPS
Section 2 - 45 FPS
Section 3 - 34 FPS
Graphics score - 12127
Sources: 3DMark [5]
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-17 (DEFnub)AnTuTu 114171108
Add View all (1)
Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-03 (Astreeek)AnTuTu 112940000
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User)Geekbench 6 GPU52952
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User)Geekbench 6 CPU3717 / 13294
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User)AnTuTu 113116013
Add View all (4)

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock 5300 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.1 NVMe
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 2048 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 16 iPadOS 26.3 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 27)
OS size 56 GB 38 GB
OS updates 4 years 0 years

Battery

Capacity 9000 mAh 7606 mAh
Max charge power 68 W 20 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging Yes -
Fast charging Yes Yes (50% in 60 min)
Full charging time - 2:16 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6144 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash Dual LED No
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording - Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion - 240 FPS (1080p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode - Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture - f/1.8
Sensor Samsung S5KJNS -
Sensor size 1/2.76" (β‰ˆ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 8 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution - 4032 x 3024
Aperture - f/2.4
Sensor CMOS CMOS
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 6.0
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.4 Yes
GPS - GPS, GLONASS
NFC* No No
Infrared port No No
Network
Type of SIM card No eSIM
eSIM support* No Yes
Hybrid slot - No
5G support No Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced March 2026 March 2026
Release date May 2026 March 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $849 $599
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Compass		 - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Yes, 20 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the display and battery life are more important to you, then choose the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5. But if the camera, software, and sound are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026).

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