Apple M5 iPad Pro: Future-proof performance, measured upgrade

Apple’s M5 iPad Pro is one of those upgrades that makes a lot of sense on paper and a more measured impact in real life. Visually, it’s the same ultra-thin, premium tablet Apple perfected last year. Internally, though, the focus has clearly shifted to AI performance, graphics headroom, and future-proofing. The result is a device that feels incredibly capable — but also one that’s still waiting for software and workflows to fully catch up with what the hardware can already do.

Pricing and Availability

In India, the M5 iPad Pro is priced as follows:
11-inch Wi-Fi (256GB) – ₹99,900
11-inch Wi-Fi + Cellular (256GB) – ₹1,19,900
13-inch Wi-Fi (256GB) – ₹1,29,900
13-inch Wi-Fi + Cellular – ₹1,49,900 onwards

Design and Display

Design-wise, Apple hasn’t touched a thing and that’s not a complaint. The iPad Pro remains one of the best-designed computing devices out there: thin, solid, premium, and incredibly portable. It still feels special every time you pick it up.

The Ultra Retina XDR Tandem OLED display continues to be a standout. Colours are rich, blacks are deep, brightness is excellent, and the 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate makes everything feel fluid whether you’re scrolling, sketching, or editing video. We reviewed the 11-inch variant which for us is of the perfect size.

This time around, we also expanded our workflow with the Apple Pencil Pro, and it’s genuinely a delight to work with especially for design and creative tasks. The improved responsiveness, gestures, and overall precision make sketching, annotating, and visual planning feel natural and intuitive.

We didn’t have a keyboard case with us during testing, but it’s easy to see how adding one could replace a MacBook Air for a large section of users especially those whose daily work revolves around typing, video calls, emails, documents, and light productivity. For many, this iPad Pro can comfortably be their primary computer.

Performance

Powering the iPad Pro is Apple’s M5 chip, built on a third-generation 3nm process. You get faster memory, quicker SSD speeds, and a more capable GPU. In everyday use, everything is predictably fast apps launch instantly, multitasking is smooth, and the system never feels stressed.

That said, if you’re upgrading from an M4 iPad Pro, the performance jump won’t feel dramatic in basic tasks. The real gains show up during sustained workloads, heavier creative tasks, and scenarios where the GPU and memory bandwidth are pushed harder. The hardware clearly has more headroom even if iPadOS doesn’t always let you use all of it yet.

Since our review unit was a cellular variant, connectivity was not an issue. And our workload was even more seamless since we could stay connected on the go.

AI Performance

This is where the M5 iPad Pro genuinely shows promise. Apple has redesigned the GPU to include Neural Accelerators in each core, and while the AI app ecosystem on iPad is still evolving, the hardware itself feels ready for what’s coming next.

Local AI tasks run faster, responses feel more immediate, and longer prompts benefit from improved memory bandwidth and better prefill times. On-device AI apps that run local language models show consistent gains over the previous generation, particularly with sustained workloads and larger context windows.

More importantly, this feels like a foundation upgrade. As newer MLX builds roll out and developers optimise their apps for the M5’s Neural Accelerators, the iPad Pro finally has the headroom needed to handle serious on-device AI without relying heavily on the cloud. The software story is still catching up, but the hardware is no longer the limiting factor.

Video Editing

Video editing is another area where the M5 iPad Pro starts to make a strong case for itself. Apps like Final Cut Pro for iPad, DaVinci Resolve, and LumaFusion benefit from faster rendering, smoother timelines, and quicker exports. What we are waiting on is Adobe suite and more importantly Adobe Premiere Pro on iPad Pro. Since like many others, our workload is on Premiere Pro, we did find the need to boot up our Macbook Pro M5 for mastering our output.

Complex projects feel more manageable, and sustained editing sessions are noticeably smoother. That said, unless you’re regularly working with heavy 4K timelines or multi-layer projects, the jump from M4 to M5 won’t drastically change your workflow. The gains are real just incremental rather than game-changing.

For creators coming from older iPads, though, this is a very capable mobile video editing machine, especially when paired with fast external storage and an external display.

Camera

Apple hasn’t changed the camera hardware, and that’s perfectly fine. The 12MP rear camera is good enough for document scanning, reference shots, and quick social clips. The 12MP landscape front camera with Centre Stage continues to be excellent for video calls especially useful when the iPad is docked with a keyboard or external display.

Verdict

The M5 iPad Pro is a powerful, forward-looking device that feels built for where Apple wants iPadOS to go next. AI performance is more capable, creative workflows are smoother, and the display remains one of the best you can buy.

But this is still an aspirational upgrade. If you’re on an M4 iPad Pro, there’s little reason to rush. If you’re coming from an M2 or older model or you want a device that can comfortably replace a laptop for typing, calls, emails, light productivity, and creative work the M5 iPad Pro makes a compelling case.