iPad Pro M5 Design and Display
The iPad Pro’s design is similar to previous years, with its thin and light design for portability. You can choose between Space Black and Silver colors, and you can pick one of two sizes: an 11-inch model and a 13-inch model.
The 11-inch model is just 5.3mm thin, while the 13-inch model is even thinner at 5.1mm.
On the front, we have the Ultra Retina CDR display with tandem OLED technology for improved brightness and contrast. The display supports ProMotion and True Tone, as expected.
The iPad Pro’s display can go up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness for HDR. It also features a nano-texture display glass option for reduced glare for people who work with color-managed workflows in challenging lighting conditions.
iPad Pro hardware
M5 processor
The M5 chip is the key upgrade that Apple brings to the iPad Pro. The new processor features a next-gen GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, which boosts the performance for AI or productivity. Basically, Apple says that the new iPad Pro delivers up to 3.5 times faster AI performance than the M4-powered iPad Pro. The 10-core GPU now has a new architecture, and thanks to it, the iPad Pro should handle complex AI tasks or other workloads with ease, including image generation. There’s also a faster 16-core Neural Engine for better energy efficiency when we’re talking about on-device AI.
The M5 is refined with a third-generation ray-tracing engine for realistic lighting, reflections, and shadows, which makes the new iPad Pro ideal for visually intensive apps and gaming. The faster CPU, on the other hand, should help with complex vector graphics in apps like Adobe Illustrator, while business users should be experiencing super-fast launch and access to large files across multiple apps.
Stats for the M5 iPad Pro compared to the M4 iPad Pro:
- Up to 1.5x faster 3D rendering in Octane X
- Up to 1.2x faster video transcode performance in Final Cut Pro
- Up to 2x faster AI image generation in Draw Things for iPad
- Up to 2.3x faster AI video upscaling in DaVinci Resolve
But that’s not all. There’s also an increase in unified memory bandwidth and faster storage read and write speeds. Now, the iPad Pro comes with over 150GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, which is nearly 30% more than the previous gen. That should improve multitasking and AI processing, as well as gaming. The 256 and 512GB models come with 12GB of unified memory, which is 50% more than before.
Charging speed is also increased, and you can now get up to 50% charge in around 30 minutes (with a high-wattage USB-C power adapter such as Apple’s 40W Dynamic Power Adapter).
C1X and N1 chips
Apple is also bringing the C1X cellular model, which is designed by the Cupertino company itself, to the iPad Pro. That allows for 50% faster cellular data performance, but with less power usage than the M4 iPad Pro.
The iPad Pro also comes with the N1, which is Apple’s wireless networking chip, and support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread. The chip helps improve the overall performance and reliability of Personal Hotspot and AirDrop as well.
iPad Pro M5 software
The iPad Pro M5 comes with iPadOS 26 out of the box. The new operating system features the recognizable and fresh Liquid Glass look, which is uniform across all Apple products.
Apart from the gorgeous translucency of iPadOS 26, there’s a new windowing system for multitasking and switching between apps. A new menu bar allows you to access the commands available in app with a simple swipe down from the top of the display.
The Files app also got upgraded with iPadOS 26, and you can now enjoy an updated List view and new folder customization options. You can also put folders in the Dock now.
The Preview app from Mac is also coming to the iPad. It lets you view and edit PDFs, and supports features like Apple Pencil Markup and AutoFill.
Apple Intelligence is also present, as one would expect. You have Live Translation in Phone, FaceTime, and Messages now, new actions in Shortcuts, and the ability to identify and categorize relevant actions in Reminders.
Accessories
The iPad Pro with M5 supports the Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C). You can also take advantage of the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. The device is also compatible with the Smart Folio for iPad Pro, which attaches magnetically and supports different viewing angles.
Price and availability
The new iPad Pro with M5 is now available for pre-order and will be hitting the shelves on Wednesday, October 22. The 11-inch model starts at $999, while the 13-inch model starts at $1,299. As usual, you can pick between a model with just Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + Cellular, and the Cellular options are the more expensive variants.
iPad Pro M5 competitors
The iPad Pro M5 is a high-tier tablet. As such, it’s only (real) competitor is the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, which got released not too long ago, back in September. The Tab S11 Ultra features a big 14.6-inch AMOLED display, a MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ processor, and 12 or 16GB of RAM.
The same iPad Pro with upgraded internals
This year, Apple is not bringing a huge change in how the iPad Pro looks. It’s still slim and lightweight, and the design is pretty much the same as last year. The biggest upgrade here is the processor, which, according to Apple’s measurements, is notably faster than the M4. For that alone, I’m incluned to think that this iPad Pro is a good upgrade. Of course, if you’re currently rocking the M4 iPad Pro, I wouldn’t necessarily say you need to upgrade, but for people coming from older iPad Pros or other iPads, I think this one would prove exciting.
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