Can I upgrade my iPad Air to iPadOS 26?
Hi, I have an iPad Air 13-inch (M3), with OS 18, can I upgrade to OS26, and what about OS 19 - 25.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: upgrading to iPad OS 26
iPad Air, iPadOS 18
Question marked as
Apple has changed its OS numbering - now using the Calendar year to identify the major version for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, macOS etc.
For iPhone and iPad, the major version number has jumped from iOS/iPadOS 18 to iOS/iPadOS 26 - completely skipping 19 through 25.
Your iPas Pro M3 supports the latest version. For information, as of 15 September 2025, here is a list of the highest version of iOS supported by the older and current models of iPad:
32-bit devices (obsolete)
iPad1 - iOS 5.1.1
iPad2, iPad3 and iPad mini1 - iOS 9.3.5 (WiFi Only models), iOS 9.3.6 (WiFi+Cellular)
iPad4 - iOS 10.3.3 (WiFi Only), iOS 10.3.4 (WiFi+Cellular)
64-bit devices
iPad Air1*, iPad mini2 and iPad mini3* - iOS 12.5.7
iPad Air2, iPad mini4 - iPadOS 15.8.5
iPad5, iPad Pro (9.7"/12.9" 1st generation)* - iPadOS 16.7.12
iPad6, iPad Pro (10.5"/12.9" 2nd generation) - iPadOS 17.7.10
iPad7 - iPadOS 18.7
(*) obsolete
Newer models are all able to be updated to the current version iPadOS 26 (or optionally, if running iPadOS 18.x, to iPadOS 18.7)
- iPad Pro 13" (M4)
- iPad Pro 12.9" (3rd generation and later)
- iPad Pro 11" (1st generation and later + M4)
- iPad Air (3rd generation and later + M2/M3)
- iPad (8th generation and later + A16)
- iPad mini (5th generation and later + A17 Pro)