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The worst-kept secret in the Apple universe has finally come to fruition in the form of the new iPad Pro M5. Expected for months to have a late-2025 release, and narrowed down to an October 2025 release as recently as the month before, the wait is over.

The early chatter was that, just like they “put a 12 on the box” of Encom OS in TRON: Legacy, Apple was mostly just going to put a five on the chip, repackage it all up, and ship it out. Well, those rumors turned out to be completely wrong, save for one: at least the rumors were right that it’s still packaged in the same-looking box.

So, what’s under the hood this time, and how does it differ from its glorious M4 predecessor? Let’s find out.

More Than Meets the Eye

If the M5 iPad Pro were a robot, it would be a Transformer, because there’s a lot more to it than what you see on the outside. There’s a fire-breather of a chip inside the svelte frame of the iPad Pro this year, and it’s not just a new number stamped on the top.

What’s new this time over the M4? The list is impressive, especially since Apple managed to keep the base price of the 11″ model still at $999 USD and the 13″ model at $1,299 USD:

• Chip & memory: Base tiers go from 8GB (M4) → 12GB RAM (M5); unified memory bandwidth rises 120GB/s (M4) → 153GB/s (M5); M5 GPU adds Neural Accelerators.
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E / Bluetooth 5.3 (M4) → Wi-Fi 7 / Bluetooth 6 (M5); M5 also adds Thread support and names the N1 wireless chip.
• Cellular (models with 5G): M5 now has an Apple C1X cellular modem.
• External displays: M4: up to 6K @ 60 Hz → M5: up to 6K @ 60 Hz or 4K @ 120 Hz.
• Charging: M5 adds an official fast-charge claim (≈50% in ~30 min with Apple 40W Dynamic Power Adapter or any 60W+ USB-C); M4 has no fast-charge spec.

It’s quite amazing to me to see that Apple was able to cram this many spec upgrades into the new iPad Pros without raising the price. It’s a testament to Apple’s ability to constantly refine and update its iPads without having to pass along price hikes to us all as potential buyers. In an era where game console manufacturers are raising prices on not only their latest systems but also their LEGACY systems, Apple’s move here is refreshing, and not just in the hardware upgrade department.

What Does All of That Spec Goodness Actually Do?

The specs are impressive, and they’re not just fancy numbers, either. They translate into meaningful, sometimes massive, performance improvements over its M4 predecessor.

Among Apple’s cited performance gains are:

• AI performance (overall): up to 3.5× faster vs M4.
• GPU compute for AI (peak): over 4× vs M4.
• Graphics (general): up to 30% faster vs M4.
• 3D rendering with ray tracing (Octane X): up to 1.5× faster vs M4.
• Video transcode (Final Cut Pro for iPad): up to 1.2× faster vs M4.
• AI image generation (Draw Things): up to 2× faster vs M4.
• AI video upscaling (DaVinci Resolve): up to 2.3× faster vs M4.
• CPU (multithreaded): up to 15% faster vs M4.
• Unified memory bandwidth: ~30% higher (to 153 GB/s) vs M4.
• Storage read/write: up to 2× faster (Apple’s claim for this generation; context implies vs prior gen).
• Cellular data (C1X modem): up to 50% faster vs M4 models.

Two things really stand out here. First, Apple has placed an emphasis on how the new M5 chip boosts video editing performance in pro-level video editing apps. If you’re not familiar with them, Final Cut Pro is Apple’s flagship video editing app, and DaVinci Resolve is Blackmagic’s premier video editing app (pun intended, Adobe fans). To have made the kind of performance strides in the pro video editing apps with the M5 is no small feat.

The other standout called out by Apple is AI. Note that Apple stressed the 3.5× overall performance gains in AI. It’s also worth noting, however, that “overall performance gains” are a bit vague, which is sometimes a hallmark of Apple’s benchmarking (like comparing the M5 to the M1, for example).

Regardless of where those gains are realized, Apple clearly sees the new M5 chip, and the iPad Pro, as an AI-centric device in 2025 and beyond. The full implementation of Apple Intelligence is yet to be achieved by Apple, so the benefits of the new Neural Engine technologies in terms of on-device AI processing are still waiting to be seen. Apple’s predictions for a full Apple Intelligence rollout in 2026, however, do seem more optimistic with the inclusion of the GPU’s Neural Accelerators.

The Song That Remains the Same

Internally, the M5 iPad Pro has been much more than just refreshed; it has evolved. But the story is quite different on the outside.

So, what’s new on the outside?

• Exterior design: No redesign — dimensions, thickness, and weight are identical to M4 for both 11-inch (9.83″ × 6.99″ × 0.21″; 0.98 lb) and 13-inch (11.09″ × 8.48″ × 0.20″; 1.28 lb).
• Finishes: Unchanged — Space Black and Silver only.
• Buttons/ports layout: Unchanged — Thunderbolt/USB 4 on the bottom; volume, top button, magnetic connector, and Smart Connector in the same places; four speakers.
• Rear camera hardware: Unchanged — 12MP Wide (ƒ/1.8) with Adaptive True Tone flash, LiDAR; same photo/video feature set (incl. ProRes up to 4K/30 on higher-storage models).
• Front camera hardware: Unchanged — 12MP landscape TrueDepth (ƒ/2.0) with Center Stage; same Portrait/Portrait Lighting and video specs.

Oh, and about those rumors of dual front-facing cameras? Nope. Same single front-facing camera layout as the M4.

The fact that the dimensions are the same also answers the other burning question: do the new iPads have better battery life? Nope. Apple rates both M4 and M5 iPad Pro models at up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi (web/video) and up to 9 hours on cellular.

And yes, both models, M4 and M5 alike, share that same beautiful tandem OLED display.

Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The Elephant in the Room

So, if you have the M4 iPad Pro already, as my wife does, should you upgrade to the new M5? It comes down to two things: frequency of use and what you do with it.

If, like my wife, you spend your days on your iPad watching YouTube, checking email, sending messages, playing Triple Match 3D and spending your son’s future inheritance on its in-app purchases (#notbitter), then no, probably not. Your M4 will look and sound the same and largely perform the same. You’re not likely to see any of the performance gains that the fancy specs of the M5 promise. Keep your cash for those in-app purchases and buy your way to in-game victory.

But if your workflow involves pro-level tasks like 4K video editing, use of AI (especially on-device), RAM-intensive tasks like keeping many browser tabs open at the same time, or being online at the fringe of wireless speeds, then yes, go for it. Trade-in values are still high for the M4 iPad Pros. As of October 2025, Apple is offering up to $695 USD for iPad Pro trade-ins. And while that number will vary depending on model, size, storage, and condition, that isn’t bad.

If you think you’ll want to go from the M4 to the M5, the longer you wait to trade in, the less your M4 is likely to be worth. Get your device ready to trade in on launch day and bask in the glory that is iPad Pro M5.

Where to Get Them

You can get Amazon’s best price on the new iPad Pro M5 11″ here (Amazon affiliate link):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FWCXJVHN?tag=blainelocklai-20&gbOpenExternal=1

Want the 13″ iPad Pro M5? Here you go (Amazon affiliate link):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FWD1MS82?tag=blainelocklai-20&gbOpenExternal=1

Bottom Line

Apple did a lot more than just slap a five on the new M chip and call it a day. They made significant, meaningful improvements to the new iPad Pro M5. No matter whether you take the plunge and get the new M5, or hold steady with the M4, it’s great to see Apple innovating and evolving the iPad to its potential.