By Dan Moren
October 15, 2025 7:55 AM PT
The iPad Pro gets the M5 treatment
Is the M5 iPad Pro the ultimate computer? We’ll find out soon enough! Apple announced the latest update to its pro level tablet today, bringing performance improvements and new networking chips.
Like the M5 MacBook Pro and M5 Vision Pro, the iPad Pro boasts improvements like Neural Accelerators for the GPU that help juice up its AI performance, for all you crazy kids doing AI on your iPads.
But perhaps the most interesting news from the new models is the integration of Apple’s own networking hardware, including the N1 chips first introduced on this year’s iPhone line, bringing support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 to the tablets. But the iPad Pro also gets Apple’s C1X cellular modem chip, introduced in the iPhone Air. Apple says its chip provides 50 percent faster cellular data performance as well as increasing efficiency over the C1 chip that launched earlier this year in the iPhone 16e; according to Apple that also means 30 percent less power usage than the M4 iPad Pro’s cellular modem.
Other than the new processor and networking chips, the specs of the M5 iPad Pro remain largely identical to its predecessor, including its accessory support, physical dimensions and weight, color options (space black and silver, naturally), and 10-hour battery life for surfing the web on Wi-Fi or watching video. The M5 model, however, does support fast charging of up to 50 percent in 30 minutes with Apple’s 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max or other compatible adapter.
It’s also worth noting that, like the M4 iPad Pro, there is a distinction between the M5 processor on the 256GB/512GB models, which features a binned 9-core CPU, compared to the 10-core CPU on the 1TB or 2TB models.
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1299 for the 13-inch model, both with 256GB standard. Cellular connectivity is available for $200 more, with a nano-texture glass option available on only the more expensive 1TB or 2TB models for an additional $100. Pre-orders are available today, and start arriving on October 22.
Updated to clarify nano-texture pricing and availability.
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors, as well as an author, podcaster, and two-time Jeopardy! champion. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His next novel, the sci-fi adventure Eternity's Tomb, will be released in November 2026.]
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