Review: The M5 iPad Pro is tomorrow’s tablet today

When you pick up an iPad Pro equipped with an M5 processor you’re not only picking up a tablet more powerful than most laptops, you’re also picking up a passport to tomorrow, with a tablet that’s quite capable of running on-device AI.

Tomorrow’s tablet is here

Why does this matter? Well, look at the speed with which AI technologies are evolving and the billions of dollars being spent on improving the models they use. This rapid pace of innovation means that while much AI processing takes place in the cloud today, in the months to come we’ll see more and more models appear that run on-device. We’re already seeing this in Apple Intelligence, and also in my personal favorite app, Drawthings.ai, which I’ve been using on an M5 iPad Pro Apple made available to me.

In hand, I have an 11-inch iPad Pro with Wi-Fi + Cellular, 1TB of storage, standard glass screen. It costs $1,799 (and can easily power an external display at up to 120Hz).

Working with the iPad showed me two things: 

That it is absolutely more powerful than a user like me needs most of the time.

That it can happily handle complex apps and workflows.

That this surplus performance means it will be equally capable of handling really demanding apps that haven’t even been introduced yet.

The system’s computational performance and capabilities cement the iPad’s place as a viable computer replacement and makes it highly suitable for use by professionals who need access to a bit of power while working in hyper-mobile environments. (Think image and video editors, both of which can use these systems as laptop replacements in some scenarios.)

That no other tablet comes close to this level of performance is why the new iPad Pro is tomorrow’s tablet today. It should keep users happy for years and will continue to remain popular across second-user markets.

What it replaces

The M5 iPad Pro replaces the M4 iPad Pro, which used to be the best tablet money could buy and has now become the second-best tablet you can get. 

The only effective difference between both models is the processor, Wi-Fi 7 support, and support for fast charging — the M5 iPad Pro can get to a 50% charge in around 30 minutes with a 60W adapter. Everything else — display technology, cameras, speakers, capacity, size, and weight is exactly the same (bar memory bandwidth and installed memory, which is higher). 

The differences between the newest model and the M2-powered iPad Pro introduced in 2022 are a little greater; these include the processor, better display technology, more CPU cores, camera improvements, and greater screen brightness and resolution.

The processor power that is core to Apple’s current hardware story means that those using an M4 iPad Pro are likely still really happy, while those with an M2 almost certainly remain cheerful, as well. This means the M5 iPad Pro is really intended to be an upgrade to people choosing to move to Apple or those upgrading from older tablets, including the M1 iPad Pro. Apple recognizes this, which is why] it helpfully pointed out that the M5 iPad Pro is “up to 5.6x faster than iPad Pro with M1.”

Speeds and feeds

Since the upgrade story here is primarily around speed and performance, it’s time to look at some benchmarks.  These are the scores I yielded in my own testing.

Geekbench 

CPU: 4,109 single-core; 16,561 multi core

GPU Metal Score: 73,889.

3DMark: 

3,928 at 29.1fps. 

AnTuTu Benchmark

CPU: 119559,

GPU: 1423031,

Overall: 3634694

It is worth noting that the Geekbench aggregate data shows the M5 iPad Pro to be significantly faster than the 3,658 single-core scored by the M4 model, or 2,593 single-core of the M2 iPad Pro. (The M1 model delivered a 2,307 single-core score.) Multi-core scores for older models were 13,517 (M4), 9,795 (M2), and 8,330 (M1) respectively. What that data shows is clear and significant performance improvements over time. Iteration by iteration, Apple is consistently making massive improvements in silicon design; this shows itself to customers in the form of faster performance, more capable systems, and longer usable lives.

Not only are these the best tablets you can get today, but they are likely to remain so until Apple introduces the next upgrade.

A note about an additional improvement in this model: memory bandwidth is improved by 30% on the last generation with throughput at over 150GBps. This isn’t necessarily an improvement you’ll see in normal use, but you’ll find the system feels much slicker as soon as you begin doing anything computationally intensive. Faster storage read/write speeds and more on-board memory also boost the experience.

Apple

Returning to the AI thing

Apple is transparent that it sees its systems — Macs, iPads, Vision Pro, and iPhones — as being the go-to devices with which to build, use, and develop artificial intelligence. It’s a story it can easily prove, all the way back to the pre-Chat GPT M1 Macs, which included dedicated GPUs and a Neural Engine with which to support these complex technologies.

Track back on the Mac, or the iPad, and you know that Apple’s adventures with machine intelligence go back further than Siri; the company understands what it needs to bring to the table to support development of future AI systems. In that respect, it doesn’t matter whether Apple has built its own AI or not, what matters more is that its systems can support AI made by others.

Did Apple achieve this? You bet. From webAI to the astonishing DrawThings, a wave of AI applications is coming to Apple Silicon. I worked with DrawThings to create fantastic illustrations in a myriad of styles, on the device, no cloud required (beyond access to download models). The iPad got a little warm to the touch, but the images were complex, interesting, and absolute proof you can use the device to run high-performance AI.

I also worked with MicDrop 1.1.0 to make some truly awful sounds, which I’ll make no claim for other than saying this was not the application’s fault.

In demos, I’ve seen an iPad crunch through other AI augmented apps, including DaVinci Resolve, and Image Playgrounds; I can easily imagine that Final Cut, Logic Pro, and iMovie sessions will see major benefits from the performance boost.

Apple promises that video transcoding on Final Cut Pro for iPad is six times faster on one of these iPad Pros than it was on M1-powered models. This graphics performance boost is anecdotally equally evident when playing games — it was a hoot replaying Divinity: Original Sin 2 for a little and becoming a little frustrated in Genshin Impact (again). 

Who is this tablet for?

Boiling it down a little, what I’m saying is that if you need an iPad that’s capable of handling the toughest possible applications, games, or for artificial intelligence, then that’s what you’ll get with the M5 iPad Pro. If you don’t need that power yet, but might need it in the next 12 months, then it’s still worth upgrading today.

Equally, if you are using an M2 iPad Pro or earlier or just want to upgrade from another older iPad model, then the M5 is a good upgrade. It’s built for the future and should see you devouring all available tasks for the next few years.

The only tablet that comes anywhere near this one is, of course, last year’s iPad Pro. Which is the point, really, because with Apple Silicon, Apple is now only really competing with itself, and anyone investing their way into the company’s ecosystem is purchasing products with the power to handle the next wave of AI computing.

It’s tomorrow’s tablet, and you can get it today.

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