iPad Pro M5 Review: The Truth After 4 Weeks

Yes, this new iPad Pro looks just like the one from last year. But after testing it for a couple of weeks, we’re surprised by how much has actually changed internally. Thanks to two new features, this iPad Pro basically makes all Android and Windows tablets irrelevant. Well, at least for the most part, let’s get into it.

How Fast is the M5? 

This iPad with the M5 processor is by far the most powerful tablet you can buy anywhere. Base RAM is now 12GB, up from 8. Storage starts at 256GB and goes all the way up to 2TB. Models with 1TB+ storage get a RAM bump to 16GB and a 10-core CPU as well, up from 9. The M5 processor is the same one you can find in the new MacBook Pro, so you can expect laptop-level performance from this chip.

We struggled to find apps that challenge this device. Even editing 4K video in Davinci Resolve runs smoothly, and heavy mobile games like Fortnite hit their max refresh rate easily. 

Synthetic benchmarks like Geekbench and 3DMark measure theoretical performance, even if apps can’t leverage all the power that the new iPad is wielding. In Geekbench CPU-Single Core, the iPad Pro is 35% faster than the OnePlus Pad 3, which is the fastest Android tablet.  

3DMark’s Wildlife Extreme tests how well the tablet can handle heavy 3D scenes, like when gaming or rendering. Here, the iPad Pro M5 is 25% faster than its predecessor. It’s also 70% faster than the OnePlus Pad 3. Frankly, these results are incredible.

Gaming Performance

Gaming is a clear strength for the new iPad Pro.

Fortnite is the most demanding mobile game in our test suite, but the M5 powered iPad Pro has more than enough power for it. At maxed out settings, the frame rate is capped at 60FPS, but if you drop the quality preset to “low” you can select a 120FPS option. The iPad manages to hit the FPS limit with both presets, and honestly we’ve never had a better Fortnite experience on a tablet before. There’s almost no stuttering or frame spikes, which is rare. 

Wuthering Waves is another demanding title that’s limited by the game engine. The frame rate tops out at 60FPS, which even at max settings the iPad doesn’t struggle with at all. Other demanding games like Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero should run just as smoothly. 

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is an iPad port of the older, but very demanding title. This game proved to be no challenge for the new M5 iPad. At high graphics settings, there are rarely any freezes and lag spikes, and the game looks superb. 

Gorgeous OLED Display

The iPad Pro still has one of the best displays on any tablet, although Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S11 series come very close too. This year’s 11’’ pro has the same bright tandem OLED display with a 1668x2420p resolution. It’s got Apple’s “Pro-Motion” technology, which means that animations and games run super smooth at a 120HZ refresh rate. We do wish the bezels were just a bit smaller, though. 

Also, the almost square, 3:4 aspect ratio might be frustrating since most video content will leave black bars at both sides of the display in fullscreen. But that aspect ratio is better for working.

Watching Netflix, YouTube or playing games really benefit from this excellent display. Dark scenes really come to life thanks to the great OLED contrast and 1,600 nits peak brightness. The standard display is also somewhat glare-resistant compared to the average glossy tablet display.

There’s also a less reflective “nano-texture” display option that you can pay extra for, but it’s only available for models with 1TB or more storage. 

We compared the iPad with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 side by side. Even though the displays are equally bright on paper, the iPad Pro is a bit brighter in reality and has more natural colors. For professional work, if you’re editing photos or videos, the iPad is the much better choice.

By the way, the 13” iPad Pro has the same screen with the same features, it’s just bigger.

Speakers

We’re mostly impressed by the iPad Pro’s 4 stereo speakers. These sound super clear and have a balanced tuning. Compared side-by-side with Samsung’s Tab S11, the iPad sounds a bit more detailed and less distorted in music playback. But the S11 gets a bit louder than the iPad, so both have their strengths. 

Battery Life

In our standardised YouTube HD video streaming battery test, the iPad Pro manages 12 hours and 51 minutes of continuous video playback before running out of charge. That’s an excellent score and it even beats the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 by 6 minutes. 

The battery life feels a bit worse in real use though. I can’t reliably get 2 full days of use out of the iPad Pro, and often find myself looking for a charger. But ultimately the battery life is still good for a tablet. 

Design & Build

Apple’s iPad designs have evolved little in the past few years. This time around, it’s basically the same package as usual. This is the 11’’ model, and you’re getting a full aluminium build. Oh yeah, there’s no SIM-Slot with the 5G version, you’ve got to use an E-SIM. And there’sno micro-SD card slot either, although that’s standard nowadays. 

The power button and volume control buttons are on the top left corner, and to the right there’s the magnetic strip that the Apple Pencil attaches to, if you have one. 

On the left and right sides, you’ll find the 4 stereo speaker cutouts. The Thunderbolt-3 certified USB-C port sits on the right side, and of course it supports video out. Since it’s Thunderbolt 3, that means that it gets 40GBps of data transfer speed, which is double that of any flagship Android tablet right now. 

Apple doesn’t specify the charging speed of this port, but they claim that the iPad Pro charges from 0-50% in half an hour, which seems to be accurate in our testing. 

So, the design isn’t new, but that’s not a bad thing. Since the entire tablet only weighs 444g and is 5.3mm thin, it’s also not straining to hold for long periods at all. The rounded corners also make it easier to hold with a single hand. 

The selfie camera and FaceID 3D scanner sit in the top display bezel. 

Apple’s FaceID is basically the most secure and quickest face-unlock option on any tablet, not counting windows tablets. And that’s a big advantage. Even the best Samsung tablets use slower and less convenient optical fingerprint readers, and their face-unlock isn’t secure enough for high security apps. This is something that the iPad Pro does much better. 

Cameras

Apple could have really improved the quality of the cameras, though. The front 12MP camera has a very wide “center stage” viewing angle, but that means that selfies lose a bit of detail compared to a 12MP wide camera. Only FHD video is supported on the front camera, disappointingly. 

The rear camera fares a bit better. It’s also 12MP, but has a standard wide angle, autofocus and can record video up to 4k 60FPS. It’s superb for scanning PDFs or taking a picture of a presentation, but can even be used for more serious photography in a pinch. The videos are also surprisingly high quality. 

iPadOS 26: MacOS like multitasking

This tablet ships with iPadOS 26 with its new, fancy liquid glass effects. While not everyone is a big fan of the new design style, there’s another, far more important upgrade. The MacOS-style multitasking features. 

For us, the highlights are the drag-down menu bar in every app for fine controls and settings, the traffic light icons for fullscreen, minimising and closing apps and of course the superior split screen features. The iPad actually kind of feels like a desktop now. You can also arrange floating windows into splitscreen just by tossing them into a corner of your display. It’s great, and made even better when you’re actually using a keyboard. 

Compared to an Android desktop mode like Samsung DeX, we actually prefer the new iPadOS for serious work. You can navigate Safari in desktop mode just like on Samsung DeX, but the consistency of iPadOS and the lack of bugs when using external displays is excellent. We do wish you could play multiple audio tracks at once without one pausing. Also, the limitation to only iPad apps means that a true laptop is still necessary for a lot of professional software. 

Software support is also a non-issue with Apple products. There’s no official update policy from Apple, but iPads generally get 7 years of support, if not longer. That’s up there with the top Android tablets. 

Apple Pencil Pro

The iPad Pro supports both the Apple Pencil USB C and the Pencil Pro. While the Pencil USB C is a simpler pen without pressure sensitivity, the Pencil Pro has all the advanced features you can think of.

It’s still the best tablet stylus out there, especially if you’re serious about digital art. It’s accurate, the pressure- and tilt-detection are flawless and the inbuilt gyroscope is a big advantage compared to Android tablets.

Thanks to the gyroscope, the iPad can detect if you rotate the pen. 

The Apple Pencil Pro also has the squeeze feature, where you can access a toolbar or quickly switch your brush depending on the application. 

For notetaking, the Pencil is excellent, although most students probably won’t need the advanced features that it offers. But Apple has another trick up their sleeves. iPads support some of the best notetaking, drawing and photo editing software. Affinity Photo and Procreate are exclusively on iPad, for example.

Keyboard

The Magic Keyboard is basically a mini MacBook keyboard with a tiny haptic trackpad that Apple charges $300 for. And we hate to say it, but you kind of get what you pay for here. 

The keys feel excellent, although the travel distance could be bigger, but the whole frame of the keyboard is solid and has no flex, meaning that the typing feeling is super consistent and won’t get in your way. And the trackpad is by far the best trackpad I’ve ever used on any tablet. 

The only major downside is that you can’t adjust the display beyond a 45 degree angle, and the floating design makes it hard to use on your lap since the center of balance is on the very back. That, and the price, of course. Together with the new software upgrades, we think that the keyboard is worth buying. 

Final Verdict: The Best Tablet 

Apple’s iPad Pro M5 is, without a doubt, the best designing, gaming and work tablet money can buy. The performance is incredible, the display and speakers couldn’t be much better and Apple’s tablet accessories are excellent, although they are also very expensive. 

Cheaper alternatives like the iPad Air and OnePlus Pad 3 might be good enough if you only need the Apple Pencil Pro or great gaming performance, and Samsung’s S11 and S11 Ultra are better for watching movies or shows. But all of those tablets have one weakness or another. If you can justify spending more than $1000 on a tablet, the iPad Pro is our top recommendation. 

If you’re thinking about getting the iPad Pro, you have to watch our perfect iPad desk setup video. Andrzej has replaced his Windows laptop with the iPad and uses it as his main computer now. He has built a workstation setup with the iPad at the center.