Onyx Boox Note Air 4 Review: What Replaced It in 2026

The short answer

The Boox Note Air 4 in 2026: what you can still buy

Most people searching for a Boox Note Air 4 review want to know one thing: should I buy it? In October 2026 the honest answer is that you mostly cannot. Boox’s own US store shows the Note Air4 C, the colour fourth generation launched in October 2024, as sold out in both of its bundles, and the Hong Kong warehouse is out too. There is no mono Note Air 4 to fall back on either. The store still keeps pages for the mono Note Air3 and even the original Note Air, but it has no mono Note Air 4 listing at all, not even a sold-out one. The fourth generation reached US buyers as a colour tablet only, and that tablet is gone.

So this review does what a buyer needs now. It sets the Note Air4 C beside the two models that replaced it, says plainly what changed across three generations (less than the names suggest), and points mono buyers to the device that actually fills that gap today. Every price and spec below was read on Boox’s official store on 21 October 2026.

The lineup

Note Air4 C, Air5 C and Air6 C side by side

Boox has refreshed the Note Air once a year, and the three colour generations share far more than their names suggest. Here is what its spec sheets list for each, with US stock as of this week.

Read down the columns and the pattern is plain. The screen, the resolution, the memory, the 3,700mAh battery and the 5.8 mm body are the same on all three. Each one ships with a stylus in the box (the Pen3 on the two newer models), a warm and cold front light, a fingerprint reader in the power button and a microSD slot. What moves from year to year is the Android version, keyboard support and the price.

What carried over

What the Note Air 4 got right, and the Air6 C keeps

The reasons people wanted a Note Air 4 are still the reasons to buy a Note Air now. The 10.3-inch size is the sweet spot for an e-ink notebook: a full A5-ish page you can hold on your lap, large enough for a PDF without constant zooming. The Kaleido 3 panel shows colour at 150 pixels per inch and black-and-white text at 300, so highlights, planner tabs and chart lines read in soft colour while body text stays sharp. Colour e-ink is muted, closer to newsprint than to a phone, and that suits annotation and planning far better than photos.

The pen is the second reason. Boox lists 4,096 pressure levels for the stylus on every Note Air here and tilt support for the Pen3, and the pen ships in the box rather than as an add-on. The third reason is the one that separates any Boox from a reMarkable or a Kindle Scribe: it runs Android with the Google Play Store. You can install the Kindle app, your cloud note app, a PDF reader or a planner app beside Boox’s own notebook, rather than living inside one vendor’s software. Our Boox versus reMarkable guide walks through what that openness costs and buys you.

The fourth generation reached US buyers as a colour tablet only, and that tablet is gone.On the Boox Note Air 4

What changed

What changed from the Note Air 4 to the Air6 C

Software is the biggest change. The Note Air4 C shipped on Android 13; the Air5 C moved to Android 15 and the Air6 C to Android 16. On an e-ink tablet that matters less for speed than for life span, because app makers drop old Android versions over time, and a newer base keeps the Play Store library open for longer.

The second change is the keyboard. Boox’s own comparison marks keyboard cover support as missing on the Note Air4 C and present on the Air5 C and Air6 C, and one Magnetic Keyboard Cover ($109.99) fits both newer models. Clipped on, it turns the tablet into a quiet drafting slab for typing without a backlit screen. Boox sells the Air6 C with the cover as a $656.99 bundle, which is $33 less than buying the two separately.

The rest is small. The Air6 C carries what Boox calls an upgraded octa-core processor against the plain octa-core of the 5C and 4C, moves to Bluetooth 6.0, and gains 20 grams over the 4C. Boox does not publish benchmark numbers for the new chip, so we will not guess at how much faster it is. If you own a Note Air4 C that works, none of this is a reason to replace it; a keyboard is the only thing you cannot add.

Mono buyers

If you wanted the mono Note Air 4

Some readers come here looking for a mono 10.3-inch Note Air, for the sharper all-black page or a lower price. Boox’s last mono Note Air on the US store is the Note Air3, and it is sold out. The device that fills that role today is the Go 10.3 Gen II: a 10.3-inch black-and-white screen at 300 ppi, Android 15 with the Play Store, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and the InkSense Plus stylus in the box. It comes in two versions, and the difference is the front light.

Pick the Lumi if you write in dim rooms or read at night, because the plain Go 10.3 Gen II ($419.99) has no front light at all; Boox’s own comparison lists it as “N/A”. The plain model is the lightest of the lot at 350 grams and suits a desk by a window. Either one is the closer match to what a mono Note Air 4 would have been than any colour Note Air. Our Boox Go 10.3 review covers the line in more depth.

Which to buy

Note Air6 C or Note Air5 C: which current Note Air to buy

With the 4C gone, the real choice is between the two colour Note Airs still in stock, and they are closer than any other pair in Boox’s range. Same screen, same memory, same battery, same body, same pen, and the same keyboard cover fits both. The $50 gap buys Android 16 instead of 15, Bluetooth 6.0 and Boox’s newer chip.

Our read: if you plan to keep the tablet four or five years, the Air6 C’s newer Android is the better long-run bet and worth the $50. If you want the lowest price on a new colour Note Air, the Air5 C gives up nothing you will see on the page. One small catch on the Air5 C: its keyboard bundles are sold out on the US store, so you buy the cover on its own at $109.99. Our Note Air 5C review goes deeper on that model and how it compares with the 4C.

For the Air6 C on its own, our Boox Note Air 6C review reads its full spec sheet, works out the keyboard-bundle and case math against the 5C, and sets it beside the reMarkable Paper Pro and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.

Whichever you buy, the notebook it ships with is blank. If you plan to run your week on it, our guide to Boox planner templates covers what works on this 10.3-inch screen, and the templates built for the Note Air4 C fit the newer models too, since the screen and resolution are identical.

The catch

What no Note Air does well

Every Note Air is a writing and reading device, not a tablet replacement. Anything that animates, from video to a busy web page, shows the slowness of e-ink. The colour is soft by design, so it works for highlights and planners and poorly for photos or art. At 420 to 440 grams it is a lap and desk device; for one-handed reading on a commute, a smaller Boox from our Boox e-reader guide is the better tool.

And if what you want most is the writing itself rather than Android apps, the closed alternatives deserve a look. Our Note Air4 C versus reMarkable Paper Pro comparison sets the Boox approach against reMarkable’s, and the e-ink tablet roundup places the Note Air against everything else on sale.

Verdict

Our verdict on the Boox Note Air 4 and what replaced it

The Note Air 4 was a good 10.3-inch colour notebook, and its successors keep everything that made it good. Since you can no longer buy it new, the decision is now between the Air6 C, the Air5 C and, for mono buyers, the Go 10.3 Gen II Lumi.

If you own a Note Air4 C, or moved from one to a newer Note Air, tell us in the comments whether the upgrade earned its place. Real use settles questions like this better than any spec sheet, and it helps the next reader choose.

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