Apple has been steadily pushing the iPad Pro line closer to the MacBook, and with the new M5 chip, it’s taken another major step. The new iPad Pro isn’t just a tablet with power to spare – it’s a device that feels like it wants to replace your laptop altogether.
Back in June, I said iPadOS 26 narrows the gap between iPad and Mac, especially in multitasking and file management. Now, the hardware finally matches the software. The M5 brings serious performance gains, smarter AI processing, and faster graphics – far more than most people will ever need from a tablet. But that’s the point: Apple isn’t designing the iPad Pro for casual use anymore.
The M5 Chip Turns the iPad Pro into a Laptop-Class Machine
The M5 chip is built on Apple’s latest 3-nanometer process, with a 10-core GPU that includes a Neural Accelerator in every core. That sounds like marketing jargon, but it translates into a real boost for tasks that rely on AI or graphics performance – things like generating images from text, masking videos in DaVinci Resolve, or editing multiple layers in Photoshop. Apple claims up to 3.5 times faster AI performance than the M4, and where you’ll see that is in how the new iPad Pro handles demanding creative apps.
For professionals, this means faster exports in Final Cut Pro for iPad, quicker rendering in 3D design apps, and smoother playback when editing high-resolution video. The display can even drive external monitors at up to 120Hz, a first for iPads, making a dual-screen workflow possible for serious creative work.
The M5 iPad Pro also boosts memory bandwidth to 150GB/s and doubles the storage speed of iPad Pro with M4. So opening massive files, switching between heavy apps, or juggling multiple projects should all happen without hesitation. The result: an iPad that’s more capable than entry-level Macs.
The Bottom Line
I appreciate what Apple is doing here. The iPad Pro with M5 is a stunning piece of hardware that makes good on Apple’s long-term goal: to make the iPad a true laptop alternative. Between iPadOS 26’s multitasking and file system improvements and the raw performance of the M5 chip, we’re closer than ever to that vision.
But I also think it’s time to be realistic about who the iPad Pro is for. If you’re a creative professional – a video editor, 3D designer, or artist – the M5 iPad Pro is a dream machine that will handle anything you throw at it. For everyone else, it’s overkill.
Read next: Is Apple’s M5 Chip Really a Big Upgrade for MacBooks?
[Image credit:Apple]
