Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation) vs Apple iPad Pro 11″ (M5)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleiPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation) | AppleiPad Pro 11″ (M5) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | March 2020 | October 2025 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 11″ | 11.1″ |
| Resolution | 2388 × 1668 | 2420 × 1668 (better) |
| Sharpness | 265 pixels per inch | 265 pixels per inch |
| Panel | LCD | Tandem OLED |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Brightness | 600 nits | 1,000 nits (better) |
| HDR peak brightness | – | 1,600 nits |
| Display type | Liquid Retina; LED-backlit IPS LCD; rounded corners reduce the viewable area | Ultra Retina XDR display, tandem OLED; sold as 11-inch, 11.1 inches measured diagonally as a rectangle |
| Pixel density | 264 ppi | 264 ppi |
| Brightness detail | 1.8% reflectivity | SDR 1,000 nits max; XDR 1,000 nits max full screen, 1,600 nits peak (HDR content only); 1 nit minimum; 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio |
| Display features | ProMotion adjusts refresh up to 120 Hz; P3 wide colour; True Tone; fully laminated; anti-reflective and fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coatings; Dolby Vision and HDR10 content playback | ProMotion with adaptive refresh rates from 10Hz to 120Hz; wide colour (P3); True Tone; fully laminated; anti-reflective coating; fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating; nano-texture glass option on 1TB and 2TB models |
| Performance | ||
| Chip | A12Z Bionic | M5 |
| Memory | 6 GB | 12 GB – 16 GB (better) |
| Storage | 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB | 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB (better) |
| CPU | Eight-core 64-bit CPU; 6 GB RAM on every storage option (Notebookcheck) | 9-core CPU with 3 performance and 6 efficiency cores (256GB and 512GB models); 10-core CPU with 4 performance and 6 efficiency cores (1TB and 2TB models) |
| GPU | Eight-core Apple GPU | 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators and hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW, AV1 decode; 153GB/s memory bandwidth |
| AI engine | Neural Engine | 16-core Neural Engine |
| Cameras | ||
| Rear camera | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Ultra wide camera | 10 MP | None |
| Front camera | 7 MP | 12 MP (better) |
| Rear camera | Wide f/1.8; ultra wide f/2.4 with 125° field of view; 2x optical zoom out; digital zoom up to 5x; five-element lenses; True Tone flash; sapphire lens cover; Focus Pixels autofocus on wide; Smart HDR; wide colour capture | 12MP Wide, ƒ/1.8, five-element lens, autofocus with Focus Pixels, Adaptive True Tone flash, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4 |
| Front camera | TrueDepth; f/2.2; Portrait mode and Portrait Lighting; Retina Flash; Smart HDR; Animoji and Memoji | Landscape 12MP Center Stage TrueDepth camera, ƒ/2.0; Portrait mode and Portrait Lighting |
| Video recording | Wide 4K at 24/30/60 fps; ultra wide 4K at 60 fps; 1080p at 30/60 fps; slow-motion 1080p at 120/240 fps on wide and 240 fps on ultra wide; HEVC/H.264; front 1080p at 30/60 fps | 4K at 24, 25, 30 or 60 fps; ProRes up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps on 256GB); slo-mo 1080p at 120 or 240 fps; stereo recording and Audio zoom |
| Depth sensor | LiDAR Scanner; measures surrounding objects up to 5 m indoors or outdoors | LiDAR Scanner |
| Battery and connections | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 10 hours | Up to 10 hours |
| Battery capacity | 28.65 Wh | 31.29 Wh (better) |
| Battery (mAh) | 7,538 mAh | – |
| Mobile data option | Yes | Yes |
| Stylus | Supported, sold separately | Supported, sold separately |
| Keyboard made for it | Yes | Yes |
| Battery life detail | Up to 10 hours Wi-Fi browsing or video; nine hours cellular browsing; 7,538 mAh reported by Notebookcheck | Up to 10 hours surfing the web on Wi-Fi or watching video; up to 9 hours surfing the web on mobile data |
| Charging | USB-C power adaptor or computer; supplied 18 W adaptor is not a stated maximum charging rate | Up to 50% in around 30 minutes with a 60W or higher USB-C adapter (sold separately) |
| USB-C | USB-C; video mirroring and output up to 4K through compatible adaptors; Smart Connector | Thunderbolt / USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s) with charging and DisplayPort; one external display up to 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz |
| Wi-Fi | Dual-band 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6; HT80 with MIMO | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2x2 MIMO (Apple N1 chip); Thread |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 | Bluetooth 6 |
| Mobile network | Gigabit-class LTE; UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA; GSM/EDGE; nano-SIM and eSIM; data only; cellular model weighs 473 g | Apple C1X modem; 5G (sub-6 GHz) with 4x4 MIMO; Gigabit LTE; eSIM only |
| Stylus support | Apple Pencil (2nd generation) with magnetic attachment, pairing and wireless charging; Apple Pencil (USB-C); sold separately | Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C); Apple Pencil hover |
| Keyboards | Magic Keyboard with trackpad and USB-C pass-through charging; Smart Keyboard Folio; sold separately | Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (black or white) |
| Design | ||
| Weight | 471 g | 444 g (better) |
| Thickness | 5.9 mm | 5.3 mm (better) |
| Height × width | 247.6 × 178.5 mm | 249.7 × 177.5 mm |
| Operating system | iPadOS | iPadOS |
| Biometrics | Face ID through TrueDepth camera | Face ID |
| Speakers | Four-speaker audio | Four-speaker audio |
| Microphones | Five studio-quality microphones | Studio-quality four-mic array |
| Sensors | Three-axis gyro; accelerometer; barometer; ambient light sensor; digital compass; iBeacon; GPS/GNSS on cellular model | Three-axis gyro, accelerometer, barometer, ambient light sensors |
| Materials | Recyclable low-carbon aluminium enclosure; 100% recycled tin in solder on the main logic board, True Tone flash and Pencil wireless charger | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 30% recycled content overall |
| Colours | Silver, Space Grey | Silver, Space Black |
| Software at launch | iPadOS 13.4 | iPadOS 26 |
| In the box | iPad Pro; USB-C Charge Cable (1 m); 18 W USB-C Power Adapter | iPad Pro; polishing cloth with nano-texture glass models (no cable or power adapter in the UK) |
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