Gurman: New iPad Pro and MacBook Pro Models With M5 Chips to Launch Later This Year

[chucker23n1]

Who wants an M5 MBP? Me.

I'll either get the M4 Pro soon (upgrading from M1 Pro)¹, or say you know what, I can hold out another year, and get the M5 Pro. Which will presumably eke out another ~10% (and might reduce BTO pricing on the RAM and/or SSD).

¹ I'd be going from 32 GiB, 1 TB, 8p2e to 48 GiB, 1 TB, 10p4e. Not bad for three years.

 

[turbineseaplane]

(and might reduce BTO pricing on the RAM and/or SSD).

"reduce BTO pricing"?

 

[cdsapplefan]

Didn’t Apple 🍎 just update the iPad Pro’s last year with the razor 🪒 thin design? The iPads really don’t need yearly updates.

 

[Gengar]

All I wanted was OLED, and we finally got that with the M4 iPad Pro, so I'll probably hold on to it for 3-4 more years.

 

[cdsapplefan]

Time flies so fast lately, I feel like these iPads were released a month ago.
Do we even need updates every 1-1,5 year? Especially with iPads that are limited by a software?

Yes Apple 🍎 has been updating the iPads faster it seems. They should go to updating the iPads every 2 years. People buy phones way more than tablets often.

 

[Populus]

Hell my Pro M2 still can handle everything you can possibly throw a it.

Yeah, same, and fingers crossed 🤞🏻 it stays that way for a long, long time.

 

[cdsapplefan]

All I wanted was OLED, and we finally got that with the M4 iPad Pro, so I'll probably hold on to it for 3-4 more years.

Apple 🍎 will update the iPad Mini to OLED and a new design in 2027 per reports. I want the Mini in OLED.

 

[Lihto]

they should pospone m5 till next year.. really no need for it. not until they can put oled and thinner design.. m4 line is killer still. only upgrade they can put is Wifi 7 and m5..

 

[rybak17]

The iPad has long been more than just a tablet. Apple has already made some small revolutions, such as the release of the iPad Pro and iPadOS (2019). In 2021 and 2022 they decided to improve multitasking, but ineptly.

System development suffers because Apple avoids internal competition with macOS. It focuses mainly on iOS development, resulting in many features coming to the system late.

 

[Populus]

It should run a real OS

Like one that allows me to have multiple audio sources playing without muting one or the other

(to just barely even scratch the surface of issues with GimpediPadOS)

Let’s hold our hopes, one last time, until WWDC ‘25.

I know, I know, it’s been said so many times already… but I really think this is the last chance for the people hoping a more complex, versatile iPadOS.

Why? Because rumors say this new redesign is coming across the board for iOS, iPadOS and macOS, and it is also said that it will bring consistency across all three major operating systems. Let’s hope this comes with feature parity, especially now that macOS will likely be exclusive to Apple Silicon machines, and at least the M series iPads will adopt a similar interface.

This idea is also reinforced if we think foldable iPhones will have a similar size of an iPad, and foldable iPads are said to run macOS. And those foldable devices are expected to be released in 2026 so… yeah, this is the time. This is the year iPadOS will likely adopt its final form.

If iPadOS is more of the same iPadOS but with glassy panels and buttons with depth (yeah, we’re definitely moving away from the flat interface introduced with iOS 7), then I’ll have lost all my hopes. Although I’m fine with iPadOS 18.3 for the way I use it, not gonna lie. But having a more complex, versatile, complete OS would be nice, yeah. It’s now or never.

 

[oink_oink]

iPad? Haven't bought one in a decade. Not falling for Apple's dumb segmentation strategy!

 

[Dr.Lee]

Nope!

Apple are totally out of good new ideas and so it's "spec bumps & subscription services"

From an innovation standpoint, we are functionally at "late stage Apple".

Hopefully more like late stage Tim Apple era.

 

[Onimusha370]

Not got gonna lie, I'd totally cave to purchasing a 17" or 18" MacBook Pro.

Amen! Hoping one day they will do it, maybe if they reduce the border underneath the current 14/16" display, they could do an 18" that stays under 6 pounds. Maybe the best hope we have is in the rumoured 2026 redesign?

 

[Apple_Gabe]

I have last year's iPad Pro so I probably will hold off on it for this year.

I'm wondering if the new generation MBP will start offering cellular capability. That would be a game changer.

 

[switz]

I gave my M2 iPad Pro 11" to my son when I got my M4 version. Both have maximum memory as BTO devices. I was truly impressed with the speeds of the M4 with keyboard where my gigabit ethernet could be connected. We have Orbi mesh WiFi 6E and that is almost as fast as the ethernet connection for the iPad.

Starting in November, we migrated almost all of our Apple gear to the M4 processor family with the exception being my M1 Ultra Mac Studio. We realized that by ordering on release dates and acquiring the new gear prior to 20 January we would avoid the promised tariffs. We may remain on M4 series for a long time. Our iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB will last many years as well. We buy Apple Care and can extend (for money) many more years of coverage than the base offering so we will be in no hurry to upgrade for a chip change.

After all, Apple claimed in all of their advertising that all of this years products were AI compatible?

The iPhone can serve as a personal hotspot on my unlimited data plan for my laptop now so a "C1" chip in the future laptops is not a carrot for a new laptop.

 

[anthogag]

Move the front camera back to portrait. 🤨 iPad + Pencil should be the "the way".

 

[xpxp2002]

I upgraded from a M1 to a M4 Pro. The M4 Pro is fast but it wasn't the jump from Intel to M1 for me. I wonder if the M5 will be much different than a M1-M4.

I have an M1 Pro from work and an M4 Pro for my personal laptop, and I honestly can’t tell the difference.

 

[John_Blackthorne]

Maybe calm down a bit?
All caps screaming is not needed

Your preferences are not necessarily those of everyone else

It's to emphasize the silliness we've been hearing about the iPad since 2018, especially those silly people at Relay FM saying, "BuT i DoN't WaNt mY iPaD tO wOrK lIkE aN iPaD! I wAnT iT tO wOrK lIkE a MaC!"

And that's the whole point--IT'S AN IPAD, people! Want it to work like a Mac? Sorry--buy a Mac.

 

[gsmornot]

Finish the thought. What is a "tablet OS?" What does current ipad not do that you want it to do?

Nobody ever says.

I was not the original poster but if I changed anything major at this point, I would combine the iPad Pro and Macbook Air with a blend of the OS’. Multitasking like a Mac, touch screen like an Ipad, detachable keyboard to make it light. Give it two persona maybe with the ability to be an iPad or Mac. I dont have the answer but it feels like we’re at a point where they are concerned adding too much to the iPad will encroach on the Mac and adding touch to the Mac would encroach on the iPad but the two are very close even though they have different focus.

 

[zedsdead]

I don’t understand people not wanting silicon upgrades. Having yearly advances is good for almost everyone, because you should be able to buy a device with the latest technology when you need it.

When Apple lets things stagnate, and you buy something at the end of a 2 or 3 year cycle, that’s not good for most consumers.

There are other upgrades also to other standards like WiFi, Bluetooth, thunderbolt, HDMI, screens etc…that co-inside with chip bumps.

Not everything needs to be a redesign.

Yearly updates are great…stagnation is not.

 

[HiVolt]

Has anyone even reached the performance limits of the M1 chip in the iPad Pro?

 

[AlexESP]

What some people who criticise the iPad “because it’s overpowered” mean is that they don’t/can’t use it to its full potential. The iPad Pro is by far my favourite Apple device, even more on the software than hardware side. It’s basically the only tablet with an OS really built and thought for this kind of device.

 

[HiVolt]

Yearly updates are great…stagnation is not.

Except the OS is stagnated, and the silicon upgrades just don't take advantage of it.

 

[zedsdead]

Except the OS is stagnated, and the silicon upgrades just don't take advantage of it.

I fully agree - and have posted about it. iPad OS needs a serious overhaul.

But if someone needs to buy an iPad Pro, they should get the latest technology. Especially because one day it will drop support for a version iPad OS….having newer chips means it is supported longer.

I also hope the M5 iPad can get support for Thunderbolt 5 (another reason for the M5 hopefully). If I can output to two external displays with the iPad with one cable, I can largely replace my MacBook Pro (this would also require software support of course).

 

[HiVolt]

I fully agree - and have posted about it. iPad OS needs a serious overhaul.

But if someone needs to buy an iPad Pro, they should get the latest technology. Especially because one day it will drop support for a version iPad OS….having newer chips means it is supported longer.

Speaking of "not supporting", i truly wonder how Apple will handle the stopping updates for things like M1 powered macs/tablets. those chips are so powerful that if they just arbitrarily discontinue them after like 6 years which is their custom, it will truly be planned obsolescence.