A couple of weeks ago, a YouTuber unboxed what appeared to be a refreshed iPad Pro in full retail packaging, suggesting it would be launching imminently. Today, Apple formally announced the new tablets, and it looks like pretty much everything uncovered by that YouTuber turned out to be accurate.
The new iPad Pros, powered by Apple's also-new M5 chip, use the same basic designs as the M4 iPad Pros from last year and are compatible with the same cases and accessories. The new iPad Pro starts at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299 for the 13-inch model, is available for pre-order today, and ships on October 22.
Apple's M5 is similar in composition to the M4—the fully enabled version uses four high-performance CPU cores, six high-efficiency CPU cores, 10 GPU cores, and a 16-core Neural Engine. But a memory bandwidth increase, from 120GB/s for the M4 to 153GB/s for the M5, enables a disproportionately large 45 percent increase to graphics performance, according to Apple's estimates. Apple's press release also highlighted improvements to storage performance, with "up to 2x faster storage read and write speeds."
The tablets can come with two different versions of the M5, and the one you get depends on the storage tier you buy. The basic M5, available in the 256GB and 512GB iPads, comes with 12GB of RAM and three high-performance CPU cores. That's a 4GB upgrade over the base models of the M4 iPad Pro, which included just 8GB. The fully enabled M5, available in the 1TB and 2TB iPads, uses 16GB of RAM and four high-performance CPU cores. Unlike the Mac version, the iPad Pro's M5 can't be configured with 24 or 32GB of RAM.
The cellular versions of the new iPads also switch to using Apple's in-house C1X modem, as well as the Apple N1 chip for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread. These chips previously shipped in some of this year's iPhones, and they represent Apple's next step in reducing its reliance on external chip designers like Qualcomm and Broadcom.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker budget nears eye-watering sum