Apple’s new M5 iPad Pro is the kind of product that makes you pause for a second and wonder, How much thinner can this thing actually get before it disappears?
At just over 5 millimeters, the answer seems to be “not much.” But Apple’s not chasing thinness just for bragging rights this time.
The M5 iPad Pro feels like a complete rethink of what the iPad should be: lighter, brighter, and finally more practical in ways that make sense.
The display is the headline feature, and for good reason. Apple calls it Ultra Retina Tandem OLED, which is marketing speak for “two OLED panels stacked on top of each other.”
It sounds overengineered, but the result is spectacular. Blacks are absolute, highlights pop without crushing detail, and the overall contrast gives everything this almost hyperreal clarity. It’s easily the best display Apple’s ever shipped, and maybe one of the best on any device.
The M5 chip powering it all is predictably fast and predictably overkill. Apple says it’s nearly twice as powerful as the M4, but unless you’re pushing Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve, you’ll never notice.
The real story is how efficiently it runs. Battery life remains the same 10 hours that Apple has been quoting for over a decade, but in testing, it stays cooler and handles heavy multitasking more gracefully than ever.
Apple has also addressed a long-standing issue that users have complained about since the first iPad Pro: the front camera.
It’s finally on the landscape edge, which makes video calls feel natural instead of awkward. It’s a small, overdue improvement that instantly makes the iPad feel more like a proper workstation.
The new Apple Pencil Pro also adds subtle depth. It detects rotation, adds haptic feedback, and magnetically pairs with a new charging spot. It makes sketching and note-taking feel a little closer to using a real tool, rather than a stylus.
And yet, the same question lingers: what’s all this power really for? iPadOS still plays it safe. Stage Manager remains clunky.
File management feels like an afterthought. The M5 iPad Pro is easily powerful enough to replace a laptop, but the software still refuses to let it.
Apple’s hardware team built a futuristic canvas, and the software team keeps sketching inside the lines.
That tension defines the iPad more than ever. The M5 Pro is breathtakingly engineered, almost impossibly thin, and arguably unnecessary for most people.
But that’s Apple’s way to make something so technically impressive that it dares you to find a reason to use it differently.
So yes, it’s expensive. Yes, it’s overpowered. And yes, it’s still running iPadOS. But it’s also a reminder of what Apple does best: build objects that feel like the future, even if the future still hasn’t quite caught up.
Would you drop laptop money on the new M5 iPad Pro, or is Apple asking too much for too little freedom?
