ZTE RedMagic Astra 2 vs iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
85
out of 100
VS
85
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 9.06-inch ZTE RedMagic Astra 2 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 ) that was released on June 30, 2026, against the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026), which is powered by Apple M4 (iPad) and came out 4 months before. 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the ZTE RedMagic Astra 2
- Water-resistant body (IP54 classification)
- Higher display refresh rate β 185 Hz
- Delivers 115% higher peak brightness (1100 against 511 nits)
- 36% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (4246K versus 3116K)
- Supports higher wattage charging (75W versus 20W)
- 20% higher pixel density (313 vs 261 PPI)
- Much smaller footprint: 37% more compact case (43.1 vs 68.5 square inches)
- OLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
- Reverse charging feature
- Weighs 101 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
- Has a 1.94 inches larger screen size
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
- Ready for eSIM technology
Review
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.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | IPS LCD |
| Size | 9.06 inches | 11 inches |
| Resolution | 1504 x 2400 pixels | 1640 x 2360 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 3:2 |
| PPI | 313 ppi | 261 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 185 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (60-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1100 nits | 500 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1600 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | No |
| Touch sampling rate | 1000 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85.6% | 81.5% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | - | 99.6% |
| PWM | - | Not detected |
| Response time | - | 22 ms |
| Contrast | - | 1140:1 |
Screen space comparison
iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
11β³ (3:2 ratio) = 55.8 in2
RedMagic Astra 2
9.06β³ (16:10 ratio) = 36.9 in2
~51% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 207.1 mm (8.15 inches) | 247.6 mm (9.75 inches) |
| Width | 134.2 mm (5.28 inches) | 178.5 mm (7.03 inches) |
| Thickness | 6.9 mm (0.27 inches) | 6.1 mm (0.24 inches) |
| Weight | 363 g (12.8 oz) | 464 g (16.37 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP54 | No |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Metal | Metal |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver | Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-button | Yes, in-button |
| Area | 278 cm2 (43 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 (26th and 27th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (#21st place)
iPad Ranking (#6th place)
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
| Max clock | 4610 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 |
| Graphics | Adreno 840 | 9 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 1280 |
| GPU clock | 1300 MHz | 1470 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~3993.6 GFLOPS | ~3763.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 27292 | 52952 |
| Single-core score | 3741 | 3717 |
| Multi-core score | 11502 | 13294 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 1201490 | 915032 |
| GPU | 1567954 | 1135331 |
| Memory | 512745 | 349968 |
| UX | 963871 | 715682 |
| Total score | 4246060 | 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 |
Recent User Tests
ZTE RedMagic Astra 2
No benchmark results yet
Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-08-03 (Astreeek) | AnTuTu 11 | 2940000 |
| π 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 52952 |
| π 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3717 / 13294 |
| π 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User) | AnTuTu 11 | 3116013 |
Memory
Configuration
| RAM size | 12 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 16 | iPadOS 26.3 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 27) |
| ROM | REDMAGIC OS 11.5 | - |
| OS size | - | 38 GB |
| OS updates | 2 years | 0 years |
| Security updates | 5 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 8300 mAh | 7606 mAh |
| Max charge power | 75 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes | No |
| Bypass charging | Yes | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (41% in 15 min) | Yes (50% in 60 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:54 hr | 2:16 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 05:53 hr | - |
| Watching video | 09:27 hr | - |
| Gaming | 05:56 hr | - |
| Standby | 138 hr | - |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 13 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | Dual LED | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | - | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 13 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - | - Bokeh mode |
| Image resolution | 13 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 25 mm | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (β 0.33 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 9 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | - | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/5.7" (β 0.18 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 0.7 micron | - |
| 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 |
| 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 | Yes |
| GPS | - | GPS, GLONASS |
| NFC* | No | No |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Type of SIM card | No | eSIM |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| 5G support | No | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | No | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | June 2026 | March 2026 |
| Release date | June 2026 | March 2026 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $699 | $599 |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Compass - Fingerprint |
- 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 design are more important to you, then choose the ZTE RedMagic Astra 2. But if the camera, battery life, software, and sound are more of a priority β go for the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026).
Cast your vote
Total votes: < 1