M5 iPad Pro reviews: Small upgrades add up, especially with iPadOS 26

Apple’s M5 iPad Pro arrives in users’ hands tomorrow, and the first reviews have been published this morning. Here’s what reviewers are saying about Apple’s latest hardware.

Hardware-software mismatch continues?

One of my big hopes leading up to the M5 iPad Pro’s launch was that it would finally break from the normal pattern of iPad hardware exceeding the software’s capabilities.

iPadOS 26 brought significant productivity improvements to the iPad. And most of today’s reviews acknowledge that.

However, while many reviewers do find the software finally matching the hardware, at least one called out the mismatch of the M5 chip’s strengths (gains for AI and high-end gaming) and the current iPadOS ecosystems in both departments.

For an overall positive take, there’s David Pierce at The Verge:

I worried with last year’s model that the iPad Pro was almost too good a piece of hardware, given how limited iPadOS continued to be. Those shackles aren’t all the way off with iPadOS 26, but they’re getting there. The M5 Pro now feels a lot like a super-fast laptop that never seems to slow down, even when I have 10 overlapping apps open just because I can.

Federico Viticci at MacStories highlights iPadOS 26’s ongoing limitations that relate to the M5 chip’s unique strengths:

This is the paradox of the M5. Theoretically speaking, the new Neural Accelerator architecture should lead to notable gains in token generation and prefill time that may be appreciated on macOS by developers and AI enthusiasts thanks to MLX (more on this below). However, all these improvements amount to very little on iPadOS today because there is no serious app ecosystem for local AI development and tinkering on iPad. That ecosystem absolutely exists on the Mac. On the iPad, we’re left with a handful of non-MLX apps from the App Store, no Terminal, and the untapped potential of the M5.

In other words, even though Apple says the M5 iPad Pro is technically a powerhouse for AI (and high-end gaming, as Viticci addresses later in his review), only the Mac really specializes in those areas.

Distinct strengths of the M5 iPad Pro

Reviewers all echo one very important detail about this model: it’s mostly an M4 iPad Pro, with a few small upgrades. You can find a full list of differences between the two models here.

Among those changes, fast charging was a common highlight. Eric Zeman writes at PCMag:

Apple says the iPad Pro can gain a 50% charge in 35 minutes if you use a USB-C charger that supports 60W or higher. I tested it with Apple’s new 40W Dynamic Power Adapter, which can max out at 60W, and the iPad hit 50% in 35 minutes. That’s incredibly helpful if you need to charge in a hurry. A full recharge required 1 hour and 19 minutes.

The M5 iPad Pro also includes new N1 and C1X wireless chips.

It seems like Apple’s claimed improvements in both Wi-Fi and 5G were evident in reviewers’ testing.

Here’s Jason Snell at Six Colors on the N1 chip:

Apple’s N1 chip offers Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, including Wi-Fi 7. I tested the M4 and M5 iPads on my local Wi-Fi 7 network, and it went pretty much as you might expect: the M4, which only supports Wi-Fi 6E, lagged behind the M5 with its pure Wi-Fi 7 power.

Kyle Barr at Gizmodo put C1X to a particularly tough test:

I took the tablet on a road trip from New York up to Vermont. During that time, I used the iPad Pro’s 5G as a hotspot for a FaceTime call inside an Apple Vision Pro. This wasn’t your ordinary 2D FaceTime video call; I was connected to three other people also wearing Vision Pros and joining with their Spatial Personas, the life-like 3D avatars generated by the headset. I only experienced a single moment where the FaceTime dropped during 30 minutes of use. As always, 5G speeds are heavily dependent on your carrier coverage, location, and surrounding environment. At the same time, the new iPad Pro had barely lost any battery during that call and was only down to a little more than 60% from full after that call and three hours of web browsing with the device on my lap.

If you never use cellular on your iPad, or don’t have the hardware required for Wi-Fi 7, these changes won’t actually impact you. But if you do, the M5 iPad Pro clearly delivers some solid wireless upgrades.

Finally, Federico Viticci at MacStories tested the new support for 120Hz refresh rate on external displays:

I’m happy to report that it worked perfectly in my tests and I didn’t have to change anything in my setup to take advantage of faster refresh rates. As soon as I connected the iPad Pro to my ASUS monitor, the resolution stayed at 4K, and the refresh rate was immediately bumped to 120Hz, resulting in faster and smoother animations out of the box with my existing USB4-certified cable. This is an excellent change; when I connect the M5 iPad Pro to my desk setup, I no longer have to sacrifice the quality of the iPad’s internal ProMotion display, and I can enjoy the same, smooth iPadOS animations on the ASUS monitor as well. It feels, effectively, like using a ProMotion display not made by Apple.

Here’s hoping Apple’s upcoming Studio Display does bring a first-party 120Hz ProMotion option soon.

If video reviews are more your thing, here’s a great one from Stephen Robles along with a couple other recommended videos.

What are your takeaways from the M5 iPad Pro reviews? Let us know in the comments.

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