M5 iPad Pro: Is the Upgrade from M4 Justified After Five Days of Use?

The Immediate Verdict: Assessing the M4 to M5 Upgrade

After five intensive days of using the new 13-inch M5 iPad Pro, the central question for many potential buyers—especially those who invested in the powerful M4 model—is whether the upgrade is genuinely worthwhile. The short answer, based on initial real-world testing, is complex but leans heavily toward no for the vast majority of users.

This analysis is crucial because the M4 iPad Pro, launched recently, already set an extremely high bar for performance, efficiency, and industrial design. The M5 chip represents an incremental evolution rather than a revolutionary leap, making the justification for a rapid upgrade difficult unless specific, high-demand professional workflows are involved.

Analyzing the Incremental Leap: M5 vs. M4 Performance

Apple’s silicon strategy usually involves significant generational jumps, but moving from the M4 to the M5 appears to be focused primarily on efficiency and minor core improvements, rather than raw, headline-grabbing speed increases. The M4 was already considered overkill for 99% of iPadOS applications.

Real-World Performance Benchmarks

In daily use—including heavy multitasking, web browsing, streaming, and even moderate creative work like photo editing in Affinity Photo or vector drawing in Vectornator—the difference between the M4 and M5 is virtually imperceptible. Both devices handle these tasks with instantaneous responsiveness, maintaining Apple’s signature fluidity.

Where the M5 might show a marginal edge is in sustained, professional-grade workloads. These include:

• 4K/8K Video Rendering: Exporting complex timelines in LumaFusion or Final Cut Pro for iPad might see a few seconds shaved off the total time, likely due to improved memory bandwidth or slightly faster GPU cores.
• 3D Modeling and Rendering: Applications like Procreate Dreams or advanced 3D manipulation tools that stress the GPU continuously could benefit from the M5’s improved thermal management and sustained performance ceiling.
• Machine Learning Tasks: If the M5 features an upgraded Neural Engine (a common generational improvement), tasks leveraging on-device AI—such as complex image processing filters or real-time transcription—could see efficiency gains.

However, for the user upgrading from the M4, these marginal gains do not translate into a fundamentally different user experience.

Efficiency and Battery Life

One area where incremental silicon improvements often manifest is efficiency. While the M4 iPad Pro already boasts excellent battery life, the M5 appears to maintain or slightly improve upon this standard, particularly under light to moderate load. This is a testament to the continued refinement of Apple’s architecture.

“The M4 was already so efficient that any gains in the M5 are hard to measure outside of a lab environment. You are still getting all-day battery life, but you won’t suddenly get two extra hours just by moving to the M5.”

Thermal performance remains stellar on the M5 13-inch model. Even during extended gaming sessions or heavy rendering, the device manages heat extremely well, preventing the throttling that plagued some earlier generations of high-performance tablets.

The M5 Experience: Beyond the Chip

It is important to remember that the M5 iPad Pro inherits the revolutionary design elements introduced with the M4 generation, which are arguably the most significant selling points of the current Pro lineup.

Display Technology

Both the M4 and M5 models feature the stunning Tandem OLED display. This technology provides perfect blacks, incredible contrast, and high brightness, making it the best display Apple has ever put in a tablet. Since the M5 did not introduce a new display technology, the visual experience remains identical to the M4 model.

Form Factor and Accessories

Both generations share the incredibly thin and light chassis, which was a major engineering feat for the M4 launch. The M5 continues to support the latest accessories, including the Apple Pencil Pro and the redesigned Magic Keyboard. If you already own these accessories for the M4, they transition seamlessly, but there are no new accessory features exclusive to the M5 that would necessitate an upgrade.

Who Should Upgrade from the M4 to the M5?

The core audience for the M5 iPad Pro is not the M4 owner. Instead, the M5 targets specific user profiles and those coming from much older hardware.

The Case for the Extreme Professional

If a user’s workflow involves tasks where a 5% to 10% reduction in processing time translates to substantial financial or productivity gains (e.g., a professional VFX artist or game developer), the M5 might offer a marginal return on investment. However, this is a niche group. For the vast majority of creative professionals and power users, the M4 remains a powerhouse that is far from obsolete in 2025.

Key Takeaways for Potential Buyers

Based on the initial five days of intensive use, the M5 iPad Pro is undoubtedly the best tablet Apple has ever produced, but it is a refinement of the M4, not a revolution.

• M4 Owners: The upgrade is not worth the cost. The performance delta is too small to justify the expense, and the core features (display, design) are identical.
• M5’s Target: The M5 is primarily aimed at users upgrading from the M2, M1, or older Intel-based Macs who want a portable, high-powered computing device.
• Focus on Ecosystem: The true value of the M5 iPad Pro lies in the continued maturation of iPadOS and the professional application ecosystem, which both the M4 and M5 benefit from equally.
• Future-Proofing: While the M5 offers slightly better future-proofing, the M4’s power ensures it will remain relevant for years to come.

Conclusion

The M5 iPad Pro is a technological marvel, showcasing Apple’s continued dominance in mobile silicon. However, for the user already enjoying the M4 model, the experience after five days confirms that the upgrade is an exercise in marginal gains. Consumers should save their investment for a future generation that introduces a truly transformative feature, such as a major redesign or a fundamental shift in iPadOS capabilities that leverages the M5’s power in a way the M4 cannot.