Apple leaks have become a ritual now, almost like clockwork. Today, we got our first look at what appears to be the next iPad Pro with the M5 chip, courtesy of the Russian YouTube channel Wylsacom.
For those who missed it, this is the same account that leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip last year, so there’s a decent chance this one is legitimate.
The video shows a 13-inch iPad Pro in Space Black, with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, running iPadOS 26.
On the surface, it looks exactly like the current M4 iPad Pro, with no notable changes to the chassis, speaker arrangement, or Smart Connector.
The only design difference that stands out is the removal of the “iPad Pro” engraving from the back, which is an interesting tidbit for those who care about subtle branding cues.
Otherwise, if you were hoping for a dramatic redesign, you might want to temper your expectations. Apple seems content to maintain the same sleek, 5.1mm-thin profile it introduced with the 13-inch M4 iPad Pro.
Where the M5 really flexes is under the hood. Geekbench 6 scores shown in the video suggest about a 12 percent boost in multi-core CPU performance and a notable 36 percent improvement in GPU performance over the M4.
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The M5 retains the 9-core configuration with three performance cores and six efficiency cores. So, the architecture is familiar, but the increase in raw power is hard to ignore.
In theory, this makes the iPad Pro more capable for graphics-intensive tasks and multitasking, especially with the base model now equipped with 12GB of RAM.
Still, this is where the spec bump fatigue starts to set in. If you already own an M4 iPad Pro, you are unlikely to notice a major difference in everyday tasks like browsing, note-taking, streaming, or light photo editing. The M4 already handles these workloads effortlessly.
The M5 is faster on paper, but iPadOS doesn’t really push the hardware to its limits yet. That means for many users, these performance gains will mostly exist as numbers in a benchmark rather than tangible improvements in daily use.
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The key point is whether Apple can continue this incremental approach without diluting the excitement surrounding the iPad Pro line.
Each year, new chips deliver small boosts, but the external design and core user experience remain largely unchanged. For enthusiasts craving innovation beyond numbers, it starts to feel a bit like deja vu.
All that said, the M5 iPad Pro is still a powerful machine. It will likely appeal to those using older devices or professionals who push graphics-heavy apps.
But for the average M4 owner, this update may feel more like a gentle nudge than a compelling reason to upgrade.
