- Apple revealed a new M5-powered iPad Pro
- This promises big progress in terms of performance
- A possible major update to AI operations
Apple’s best and thinnest iPad is getting a major performance update that relies heavily on AI. On Wednesday, October 15, Apple unveiled its new iPad Pro equipped with the new M5 Apple Silicon, a chip that simultaneously appears in the new 14-inch MacBook Pros.
This is notable because the last time Apple rolled out a major Apple Silicon update in the iPad Pro (the M4), it took months for it to appear in a range of new Macs.
The iPad Pro, both the 11-inch and 13-inch models, which are among the best tablets you can buy, offer almost no design updates. The iPad Pro 11 is still 5.3mm thick and the 13-inch model is still a stunning 5.1mm thick. Both offer the same Ultra Retina XDR display with tandem OLED technology that makes this incredible thinness and blacks possible.
It seems that the focus is really on the new M5 chip. Apple promises it’s faster, apparently 3.5 times faster than the M4 in the latest iPad Pro.
However, it’s the focus on AI capabilities that could generate the most interest, even if Apple fails to deliver the ultimate version of Apple Intelligence. Certainly, this tablet and the M5 are prepared for its arrival, we think, early next year.
Like the A19 Pro chip that Apple unveiled last month in its iPhone 17 Pro, the new M5 features an updated GPU with a neural accelerator inside each core. Apple says the improved power and performance, combined with a faster 16-core Neural Engine, will raise the bar for productivity tasks and AI operations.
It could also be a faster tablet due to the 150 GB/s unified memory bandwidth, which Apple says is 30% faster than previous silicon.
The M5 is coming to iPads running iPadOS 26, the new iPad multitasking platform. It’s clear that silicon is designed to take advantage and support these desktop-like multi-window capabilities.
Connectivity is also improved with the introduction of the Apple C1X and N1 chips which will improve cellular connectivity and add support for WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread.
Despite internal updates, Apple has stayed the course on pricing, with the 11-inch iPad Pro starting at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 (Wi-Fi model) and the 13-inch model starting at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,199 (Wi-Fi model). Both iPad Pros are available in Space Black or Silver and in storage capacities of up to 2TB.
Pre-orders are already open on the Apple Store and will begin shipping on October 22.
An AI teaser
There are no major surprises here in this update, but it’s encouraging to see Apple continue to channel its best and fastest Apple Silicon into its lightweight and capable tablets.
The focus on AI performance is interesting because it immediately begs the question: where is the rest of Apple Intelligence? When will we get a Siri as system-aware as, say, Gemini or even Galaxy AI?
As we know, these updates are still in progress, but Apple is open to working with other generative AI models, and it will be interesting to see how the M5 works with different third-party AI operations, for example ChatGPT.
And that bodes well for a future, more powerful version of Apple Intelligence and Siri, which will surely have plenty of free space to work with whenever it arrives on the new M5-powered iPad Pro tablets.
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