Many early reviews of the 2025 iPad Pro with Apple’s new M5 processor share a general theme. The new chip makes the device faster, and paired with the major redesign of iPadOS 26, the tablet might just rival a MacBook.
Read on for M5 iPad Pro reviewers’ comments.
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First reviews of M5 iPad Pro: Tablet is more like a Mac than ever
The iPad Pro is Apple’s ultimate tablet for creators — and also, increasingly, a MacBook clone. Paired with an Apple Pencil, it’s a fantastic tool for visual artists. Inserted into Apple’s excellent Magic Keyboard, it’s a hybrid tool for writers, photo editors or anyone else who might otherwise work on a laptop. And thanks to its incredible processing power, the iPad Pro can handle resource-intensive tasks like professional video and audio editing.
The M5 chip inside the 2025 iPad Pro, which Apple unveiled on October 15, is the tablet’s major enhancement over the previous M4 model. Alongside that speed boost from the new M5, some variants benefit from 50% more RAM. The premium tablet includes an OLED screen in both the 13-inch and 11-inch versions.
It hasn’t reached customers or store shelves yet, but a fortunate few got review units before the release.
Apple's pro tablet upgrade for 2025 features the M5 processor for maximum performance.
- Midsize Apple tablet with big-time performance
- 11-inch Ultra Retina XDR display with 120Hz ProMotion and antireflective coating
- 4x peak GPU compute compared to M4 iPad Pro
- Pricey
- Nano-texture glass only available on 1TB and 2TB models
M5 brings expected performance increase
The whole point of a new processor is a jump in speed, and the Apple M5 delivers, according to the first M5 iPad Pro reviews.
“If you’re coming from, say, an M1-powered iPad Pro, you’ll notice the performance improvement right away,” said The Verge reviewer. “Things that used to load and buffer now just render and save almost instantly.”
“In Geekbench 6 tests, the multicore benchmark number I got with the 10-core M5 is 16,116, vs. 14,672 for last year’s higher-end M4 iPad Pro. That’s about 10% faster,” noted Cnet’s reviewer. “Compared with the M3 iPad Air from earlier this year, which got a multicore score of 11,643, it’s 38% faster.”
iPadOS 26 makes iPad more Mac-like
Reviewers all praised the changes in iPadOS 26, which launched last month.
“After spending the better part of a week using a 13-inch iPad Pro, I’m more compelled by it than I expected to be,” said The Verge reviewer. “The biggest reason by far is not the new hardware but iPadOS 26, which finally imbues the iPad with some PC-like powers, from the free-form multitasking to the menu bar to the massively improved Files app.”
“There are things about this iPad Pro that I like more than my laptop,” said the Cnet review. “FaceID sign-ins are smooth and easy. The crisp OLED touchscreen is better for movies and better overall than any Mac for now. The M5 processor blazes.”
“I have been working off this machine over the past few days, and I feel as though I’ve been able to work faster than I ever have before on an iPad,” said Wired’s reviewer.
Plus new Apple chips
The M5 isn’t the only Apple silicon inside — The tablet features the N1, a new Apple-designed wireless networking chip.
“My internet speeds are consistently faster on the M5 Pro than the M4 Pro. Sometimes way faster,” said The Verge.
M5 iPad Pro variants configured with cellular-wireless connectivity use the C1X, a cellular modem designed by Apple.
“I worked predominantly on cellular with no issues,” noted Wired. “My speed tests in midtown Manhattan were stellar.”
Order M5 iPad Pro today
The M5 iPad Pro begins arriving in stores on October 22. The 13-inch model starts at $1,299, while the 11-inch one starts at $999.
Configuring the tablets with additional storage increases the prices.
Apple's pro tablet upgrade for 2025 features the M5 processor for maximum performance.
- Apple's biggest, most powerful tablet
- 13-inch Ultra Retina XDR display with 120Hz ProMotion and antireflective coating
- 4x peak GPU compute compared to M4 iPad Pro
- Pricey
- Nano-texture glass only available on 1TB and 2TB models
