Katarzyna Petru
The new iPad Pro with the M5 chip is coming this fall. It seems like the classic: a more powerful system, a thinner display, a new system. But this time… it might be different. For the first time in years, all signs point to the fact 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 a whole decade, iPads Pro had the same problem: powerful hardware and a system that couldn't keep up. Apple put chips from MacBooks, like the M1 or M4, into the tablets, yet we were still stuck using applications in full-screen mode, without proper multitasking, without a desktop feeling.
M4? It debuted first in the iPad and... nothing came of it. And even though Apple's tablets outperformed the competition in benchmarks, in everyday use it felt like an oversized iPhone.
iPadOS 26 is finally going to make a real change
With iPadOS 26, Apple is doing something we've been waiting for years: it begins to treat the iPad Pro as a true work tool, not just for browsing PDFs and editing photos in LumaFusion.
What’s changing? Above all:
a new windowing 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 with purpose
M5 might make sense — even if it looks like "just another upgrade"
Sure, the physically new iPad Pro with M5 may not differ much from its predecessor. But for the first time, the system is catching up with the hardware. And that makes a difference.
I am planning to switch from M4 to M5 precisely because of iPadOS 26.
Not for the gigahertz. For the features that will finally allow us to squeeze 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.
