Katarzyna Petru
The new iPad Pro with the M5 chip is coming this autumn. It seems like a classic: a more powerful processor, a thinner display, a new system. But this time… it could be different. For the first time in years, everything suggests that Apple has not only added more power — but finally knows what to do with it.
There was too much power. Now there will be a reason to have it
For an entire decade, iPad Pros had the same problem: powerful hardware and a system that couldn't keep up. Apple was putting chips from MacBooks, like the M1 or M4, into the tablets, and we still found ourselves stuck on apps in fullscreen mode, with no proper multitasking, without that desktop feeling.
M4? It debuted first in the iPad and... nothing came of it. And while Apple's tablets were ahead of the competition in benchmarks, in everyday use, it resembled an oversized iPhone.
iPadOS 26 is finally set to make a real difference
With iPadOS 26, Apple is doing something we've been waiting for years: it starts treating the iPad Pro like a real work tool, and not just for browsing PDFs and editing photos in LumaFusion.
What's changing? First and foremost:
new window system (finally!)
background and Live Activities like in iOS
menu bar like in macOS
better file system
advanced audio tools
and much more that will turn the iPad into something between a MacBook and an iPhone — finally making sense
M5 could make sense — even if it looks like “just another upgrade”
Sure, the physically new iPad Pro with M5 might not be much different from its predecessor. But for the first time, the system is catching up with the hardware. And that makes a difference.
I'm planning to switch from M4 to M5 specifically because of iPadOS 26.
Not for the gigahertz. For the features that will finally allow us to get more out of this device than just notes with Apple Pencil. Is the new iPad Pro with M5 finally the moment when the iPad stops being “wasted potential”? Very possible.
