diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 47d8c90f8..1faa5a8f9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
+## [Unreleased]
+### Fixed
+- Input, Textarea - passing `undefined` to **value** sets the underlying input value to undefined [#1206](https://github.com/IgniteUI/igniteui-webcomponents/issues/1206)
+
 ## [4.9.0] - 2024-04-30
 ### Added
 - Button group component now allows resetting the selection state via the `selectedItems` property [#1168](https://github.com/IgniteUI/igniteui-webcomponents/pull/1168)
diff --git a/src/components/input/input.spec.ts b/src/components/input/input.spec.ts
index b53442fa0..94c581991 100644
--- a/src/components/input/input.spec.ts
+++ b/src/components/input/input.spec.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ describe('Input component', () => {
     it('is initialized with the proper default values', async () => {
       expect(el.size).to.equal('medium');
       expect(el.type).to.equal('text');
-      expect(el.value).to.equal('');
+      expect(el.value).to.be.empty;
       expect(el.invalid).to.be.false;
       expect(el.required).to.be.false;
       expect(el.readonly).to.be.false;
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ describe('Input component', () => {
     });
 
     it('sets the pattern property successfully', async () => {
-      expect(input.pattern).to.equal('');
+      expect(input.pattern).to.be.empty;
       el.pattern = '123';
 
       await elementUpdated(el);
@@ -246,6 +246,20 @@ describe('Input component', () => {
       expect(eventSpy).calledTwice;
       expect(eventSpy).calledWithExactly('igcBlur');
     });
+
+    it('issue #1026 - passing undefined sets the underlying input value to undefined', async () => {
+      el.value = 'a';
+      await elementUpdated(el);
+
+      expect(el.value).to.equal('a');
+      expect(input.value).to.equal('a');
+
+      el.value = undefined as any;
+      await elementUpdated(el);
+
+      expect(el.value).to.be.empty;
+      expect(input.value).to.be.empty;
+    });
   });
 
   it('should reflect validation state when updating through attribute', async () => {
@@ -290,7 +304,7 @@ describe('Input component', () => {
       spec.element.value = 'abc';
 
       spec.reset();
-      expect(spec.element.value).to.equal('');
+      expect(spec.element.value).to.be.empty;
     });
 
     it('reflects disabled ancestor state', async () => {
diff --git a/src/components/input/input.ts b/src/components/input/input.ts
index a2b5a263e..4bbff4f7c 100644
--- a/src/components/input/input.ts
+++ b/src/components/input/input.ts
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ export default class IgcInputComponent extends IgcInputBaseComponent {
    */
   @property()
   public set value(value: string) {
-    this._value = value;
+    this._value = value ?? '';
     this.setFormValue(value ? value : null);
     this.updateValidity();
     this.setInvalidState();
diff --git a/src/components/select/select.spec.ts b/src/components/select/select.spec.ts
index fc2a402e2..b123b7042 100644
--- a/src/components/select/select.spec.ts
+++ b/src/components/select/select.spec.ts
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ describe('Select', () => {
         select.value = '123151';
         await elementUpdated(select);
 
-        expect(input.value).to.be.null;
+        expect(input.value).to.be.empty;
       });
     });
 
diff --git a/src/components/textarea/textarea.spec.ts b/src/components/textarea/textarea.spec.ts
index 814024632..171d552d8 100644
--- a/src/components/textarea/textarea.spec.ts
+++ b/src/components/textarea/textarea.spec.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,25 @@ describe('Textarea component', () => {
 
       expect(element.value).to.equal([value, ...additional].join('\r\n'));
     });
+
+    it('issue #1206 - passing undefined sets the underlying textarea value to undefined', async () => {
+      element = await fixture<IgcTextareaComponent>(
+        html`<igc-textarea></igc-textarea>`
+      );
+      textArea = element.renderRoot.querySelector('textarea')!;
+
+      element.value = 'a';
+      await elementUpdated(element);
+
+      expect(element.value).to.equal('a');
+      expect(textArea.value).to.equal('a');
+
+      element.value = undefined as any;
+      await elementUpdated(element);
+
+      expect(element.value).to.be.empty;
+      expect(textArea.value).to.be.empty;
+    });
   });
 
   describe('Events', () => {
@@ -193,7 +212,7 @@ describe('Textarea component', () => {
       await elementUpdated(spec.element);
 
       spec.reset();
-      expect(spec.element.value).to.equal('');
+      expect(spec.element.value).to.be.empty;
     });
 
     it('reflects disabled ancestor state', async () => {
diff --git a/src/components/textarea/textarea.ts b/src/components/textarea/textarea.ts
index cd5d29ae7..31c20d526 100644
--- a/src/components/textarea/textarea.ts
+++ b/src/components/textarea/textarea.ts
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ export default class IgcTextareaComponent extends FormAssociatedRequiredMixin(
     delegatesFocus: true,
   };
 
+  private _value = '';
   private observer!: ResizeObserver;
 
   @queryAssignedNodes({ flatten: true })
@@ -226,7 +227,16 @@ export default class IgcTextareaComponent extends FormAssociatedRequiredMixin(
    * @attr
    */
   @property()
-  public value = '';
+  public set value(value: string) {
+    this._value = value ?? '';
+    this.setFormValue(this._value ? this._value : null);
+    this.updateValidity();
+    this.setInvalidState();
+  }
+
+  public get value(): string {
+    return this._value;
+  }
 
   /**
    * Controls whether the element may be checked for spelling errors.
@@ -276,6 +286,7 @@ export default class IgcTextareaComponent extends FormAssociatedRequiredMixin(
 
   public override async connectedCallback() {
     super.connectedCallback();
+    this.updateValidity();
 
     await this.updateComplete;
 
@@ -340,10 +351,6 @@ export default class IgcTextareaComponent extends FormAssociatedRequiredMixin(
 
   @watch('value')
   protected async valueChanged() {
-    this.value ? this.setFormValue(this.value) : this.setFormValue(null);
-    this.updateValidity();
-    this.setInvalidState();
-
     await this.updateComplete;
     this.setAreaHeight();
   }
diff --git a/stories/textarea.stories.ts b/stories/textarea.stories.ts
index 4b27ee70b..1b880fbc8 100644
--- a/stories/textarea.stories.ts
+++ b/stories/textarea.stories.ts
@@ -114,7 +114,6 @@ const metadata: Meta<IgcTextareaComponent> = {
       type: 'string',
       description: 'The value of the component',
       control: 'text',
-      table: { defaultValue: { summary: '' } },
     },
     spellcheck: {
       type: 'boolean',
@@ -167,7 +166,6 @@ const metadata: Meta<IgcTextareaComponent> = {
     readOnly: false,
     resize: 'vertical',
     rows: 2,
-    value: '',
     spellcheck: true,
     wrap: 'soft',
     validateOnly: false,