Apple Unveils First Wave of M5-Powered Products

Apple on Wednesday announced the M5 chip, the company’s latest generation of custom processors. It powers refreshed iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and Vision Pro devices.

“M5 delivers over 4x the peak GPU compute performance for AI compared to M4,” Apple wrote in extolling the virtues of its next-gen, designed-in-house silicon. “[It features] a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core, a more powerful CPU, a faster Neural Engine, and higher unified memory bandwidth.”

Of the new products, the iPad Pro and Vision Pro are, in my opinion, most interesting to ruminate over. They’re certainly noteworthy enough to cover here, even tangentially.

First, the updated iPad Pro. As I wrote last week, I’d been eagerly anticipating today’s news because I’m keen on downsizing to the 11” iPad Pro. As lovely as my 13” M4 model is for its big OLED screen and its conduciveness to iPadOS 26’s revamped multitasking system, the truth is I don’t use the tablet for productivity. Indeed, I mostly use it as a conduit for content consumption whilst lounging on the couch in our living room; for that, the 13” model’s large footprint makes it unwieldy to use as an iPad for reading in Safari or Apple Books or whatnot. Thus, my gut feeling is the 11” iPad Pro would much more realistically represent what I actually use a tablet to do—however well-intended I am, the reality is the 13” model is more aspirational than accurate in terms of how I use the device on a daily basis. Federico Viticci, I decidedly am not—not anymore, anyway.

I believe it’s healthy to reassess the tools I use, lest I fall into complacency and hubris.

Which model do I want? The 11” iPad Pro (in silver) with cellular and 1TB storage.

As to Apple Vision Pro, I personally don’t feel a compulsion for a new one like I do with the iPad. My M2 model still does everything I want it to do—which admittedly isn’t a whole lot—and I’m one of those rare birds who likes the Solo Knit Band that originally shipped with the headset. It’s comfortable and fits me well, but the advent of the new Dual Knit Band (available at $99 for OG Vision Pro users like me) serves as a reminder that, as ever, hardware accessibility matters. To wit, it matters how accessible this new Dual Knit Band is to take on and off, as well as adjust for comfort. After all, Apple’s fancy-pants $3,500 “spatial computer” does no good if you can’t easily get it on your face first. Overall, count me with my good friend John Gruber, who writes today “I find using [Vision Pro] with the Solo Knit Band comfortable for as long as I care to use it.”

Finally, a cursory note on external display support. The M5 chip enables iPad Pro to connect to external monitors at up to 120Hz, which Apple says is “ideal for creative workflows like video editing as well as gaming.” This bit of nerdy arcana appeals to me insofar as I’m also excited for refreshed external displays from Apple. My white whale display is the Pro Display XDR, although intellectually I’m well aware the Studio Display would be sufficient for my desk’s needs. (I like the Mini-LED tech and larger screen of the XDR.) I say this because I’m still using my 6-year-old Retina 4K 21.5” iMac that runs not on Apple silicon, but Intel. macOS Tahoe dropped support for my machine, and due to technological inertia and general life stuff, I have yet to move more deliberately on upgrading my desk setup. I’m lucky that this iMac still runs pretty well given its ancient age, and even luckier my workflow as a journalist involves little more than dealing with plain text files, video calls for interviews, and basic web surfing. While I’m appreciative of lots of horsepower because I’m a nerd, my usage doesn’t exactly scream “bleeding edge” compute power. Markdown files are extremely small and very low maintenance.

I should upgrade my Mac as soon as possible, but I’m doing okay for right now.

As for the M5 iPad Pro? I must get me an 11” version posthaste.