The M5 iPad Pro is expected to launch either in October or, as some leaks have suggested, in early 2026. To this point, the next iPad Pro is expected to resemble the current M4 iPad Pro, but with some significant under-the-hood upgrades.
That was seemingly confirmed thanks to the Russian YouTuber Wylascom, who just posted an alleged unboxing and hands-on of the M5 iPad Pro. You may remember that name from last fall when Wylascom leaked the M4 MacBook Pro mere weeks before it was announced.
The video has an English dub, so you don't need a Cyrillic education to hear what he has to say. On a basic level, however, the only significant change appears to be the new M5 chip and increased RAM.
Wylacom claims he has a 256GB base model iPad Pro, and he shows that it features 12GB of RAM, an upgrade over the 8GB in the M4 version. This also means that Apple is likely to keep the 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage capacities.
Benchmark scores compared
In the back half, Wylacom compares the M4 and M5 tablets on Geekbench, and it is an improvement across the board. In his tests, the M5 scores 4,133 and 15,437 in single-core and multi-core with a Metal score of 74,568. Metal is Apple's term for its GPU.
For comparison, in the Tom's Guide lab tests, the M4 iPad Pro scored 3,692 and 14,512. The M5 iPad Pro is approximately 10-15% more powerful than the M4.
We didn't specifically run any metal tests, but from what we can see from the video, Wylacom's test scored 55,702 on the M4. The M5 GPU is approximately 35% faster than its predecessor.
We knew the M5 would be better, but it definitely seems like the next iPad Pro will be more friendly to gamers. And this is just for the base tablet. The 1TB version is likely to come with more efficient cores and additional RAM, meaning it should perform even better.
Release date and price
As mentioned, we believe Apple will hold an event or send out press releases for several devices at some point in October. We expect several new devices to launch, including the iPad Pro and perhaps the M5 MacBook Pro.
So far, we have yet to see any price leaks for the M5 iPad Pro. It likely won't come cheap. The 11-inch M4 iPad Pro started at $999, while the 13-inch launched at $1299 for the base 256GB model.
We expect prices for the M5 to start there. Potentially, they could go higher thanks to increased tariffs, but Apple has managed to avoid those increases so far.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
More from Tom's Guide
- Apple's offering 3 months of Apple Music absolutely free — here's how to get it
- iPhone 17 Air vs. iPhone 17 Pro Max: Here’s what you give up for a thinner phone
- I swapped my Apple Watch 11 for the Garmin Venu 4 — here’s my honest verdict
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
