M4 vs. M5 iPad Pro Buyer's Guide: 20 Differences Compared

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Apple's caller iPad Pro comes astir 18 months aft the erstwhile mentation with the M4 chip, truthful however antithetic is the caller exemplary and should you see upgrading?


The ‌iPad Pro‌ introduced past twelvemonth was a large update, debuting the M4 chip, a importantly thinner design, a nano-texture option, OLED displays, a scenery front-facing camera, and more, arsenic good arsenic a caller Magic Keyboard with an aluminum apical case, relation keys, and a trackpad with haptic feedback. With specified a large update past year, the caller ‌iPad Pro‌ Apple conscionable launched with the M5 spot is overmuch much iterative, focusing mostly connected chips and connectivity. Beyond their chips, the cardinal differences are arsenic follows:







M4 ‌iPad Pro‌ (2024)
M5 ‌iPad Pro‌ (2025)









































Broadcom Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip N1 chip
Bluetooth 5.3 Bluetooth 6
Wi-Fi 6E connectivity Wi-Fi 7 connectivity
Qualcomm Snapdragon 5G modem (cellular models only) C1X spot (cellular models only)
Up to 2× faster SSD work and constitute speeds
256GB and 512GB models: 8GB memory
1TB and 2TB models: 16GB memory
256GB and 512GB models: 12GB memory
1TB and 2TB models: 16GB memory
~2–4 nits minimum brightness 1 nit minimum brightness
Drive outer displays astatine 60Hz Drive outer displays astatine up to 120Hz
Adaptive Sync support
Fast-charge susceptible (Up to 50% complaint utilizing a 60W adapter oregon higher successful 30 minutes with the 11-inch exemplary oregon 35 minutes with the 13-inch model)



With the latest mentation of the ‌iPad Pro‌, Apple is chiefly touting the powerfulness of the M5 chip. Compared to the M4, it says the M5 is:


  • Up to 15% faster multithreaded CPU performance

  • Up to 30% faster wide graphics performance

  • Up to 45% faster ray tracing performance

  • 27.5% higher unified representation bandwidth



In summation to wide show claims, Apple published a acceptable of circumstantial real-world workload results showing measurable gains successful AI-driven applications with the M5 chip:


  • 4×+ highest GPU compute show for AI

  • 3.6× faster clip to archetypal token (LLM)

  • 1.8× faster Topaz Video Enhance AI processing

  • 1.7× faster Blender ray-traced rendering

  • 2.9× faster AI code enhancement successful Premiere Pro



Other notable changes compared to the M4 spot successful the ‌iPad Pro‌ include:



M4 Chip
M5 Chip

































Made with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process (N3E) Made TSMC's third-generation ‌3nm‌ process (N3P)
Based connected A18 Pro spot from iPhone 16 Pro Based connected A19 Pro spot from iPhone 17 Pro
No integrated Neural Accelerators Integrated Neural Accelerator successful each GPU core
Metal 3 developer APIs Metal 4 developer APIs with Tensor APIs to programme GPU Neural Accelerators
Second-generation ray tracing engine Third-generation ray tracing engine
First-generation dynamic caching Second-generation dynamic caching
Shader cores Enhanced shader cores
120 GB/s unified representation bandwidth 153 GB/s unified representation bandwidth



The M5 ‌iPad Pro‌ does person immoderate notable upgrades: baseline representation has increased, SSD velocity has doubled, the outer show controller present supports 120Hz and Adaptive Sync, the GPU present integrates neural accelerators per halfway with caller Tensor APIs, cellular connectivity is faster, and it present supports some Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

However, the applicable effect of these changes is precise narrow. Almost each communal ‌iPad Pro‌ workflow is already good wrong the capableness envelope of the M4 model. As a result, the M5's gains volition lone uncover themselves successful edge-case behaviors: precise ample AI-driven workloads, agelong exports connected outer drives, workloads that leafage into memory, oregon nonrecreational usage with a 120Hz outer display. Even for power-users of the M4 model, these situations are precise rare.



This means the M5 is chiefly a replacement-cycle merchandise for owners of older iPads oregon laptops, alternatively than an upgrade-cycle merchandise for caller buyers. If you presently ain an M4 ‌iPad Pro‌, determination is nary general-purpose crushed to upgrade. Even for originative professionals, unless your pipeline explicitly leverages GPU-accelerated AI tools oregon 120Hz outer displays, the upgrade volition not construe into overmuch clip saved oregon melodramatic capableness gained.

By contrast, if you are upgrading from an older ‌iPad Pro‌ oregon mean to trust connected the instrumentality for sustained AI oregon pro-grade external-monitor enactment for the adjacent 5 years, the M5 does connection greater aboriginal headroom and reduced likelihood of hitting ceilings. The caller exemplary volition apt past longer, being susceptible done much years of successive bundle updates and evolving requirements.
Related Roundup: iPad Pro
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