I’m the sort of person who likes to hold onto gadgets for as long as they keep working. My first iPad was the 2018 iPad Pro, and I used it for everything: reading, note taking, Netflix marathons, digital art, and even the occasional try at making music. When Apple announced the 2025 iPad Pro with the new M5 chip, it made me curious. Was this just another incremental upgrade or something that would actually change how I use a tablet? After a lot of internal debate (and justifying the purchase to myself and my family), I finally bought one. I’ve been using it for a couple of months now, and here’s my honest, messy, human take on whether it’s worth upgrading.
Design and Display: Familiar yet Improved
At first glance, the 2025 iPad looks almost identical to the 2024 model. According to MacRumors, Apple redesigned the iPad Pro with an OLED display and a slimmer chassis in 2024, and the 2025 model keeps that design but swaps out the chip. That might sound boring, but the OLED screen still feels like magic. Colors are more vibrant, blacks look truly black, and the screen gets incredibly bright when I’m drawing or watching a movie at noon near my sunny window. I picked up the 13-inch version, and while it’s huge, the weight is surprisingly manageable because the chassis is thinner. It’s not feather-light; after an hour of holding it in bed my wrists do get tired, but the trade-off is this massive, immersive screen that makes reading comics and drawing feel luxurious.
The M5 chip under the hood is built on a 3‑nanometer process and promises both performance and efficiency improvements. In everyday use, everything feels instant. Apps open the second you tap them, multitasking with multiple windows is smooth, and games like Genshin Impact run at high frame rates without the tablet getting too warm. My older 2018 iPad would sometimes lag when I had a bunch of Procreate layers going, but the new one doesn’t break a sweat. I also noticed the battery draining slower during sketching sessions. That’s the efficiency part at work — the M5 chip sips power while still delivering loads of performance.
Apple Pencil Pro: Not Just a Gimmick
I was skeptical about the new Apple Pencil Pro when I saw the announcement. “Squeeze” gestures? Barrel roll? Haptic feedback on a stylus? But this ended up being one of the best parts of the upgrade. The Apple site explains that the Pencil Pro adds advanced features like squeeze, barrel roll and haptic feedback to make marking up, taking notes, and drawing more intuitive. In practice, the squeeze gesture brings up a tool palette so I can switch from a pen to a marker or change colors without digging through menus. Barrel roll senses when I rotate the stylus, so things like calligraphy strokes and shading feel more natural. The haptic feedback gives a tiny vibration when I double-tap or squeeze, which sounds silly but somehow makes digital drawing feel more tactile. There’s even a Find My integration; I misplaced the Pencil in my messy room once and used my phone to make it beep. That saved me from tearing apart the couch.
On a day-to-day basis, the Pencil Pro has become an extension of my hand. I take handwritten notes during meetings and annotate PDFs with ease. As someone who used to doodle in the margins of paper notebooks, I love being able to scribble freely and then convert my handwriting to text. The hover function, which previews exactly where your stroke will land, is a small detail that really boosts precision. I was initially worried the Pencil Pro would be gimmicky, but it has genuinely improved my workflow — and it magnetically sticks to the side of the iPad to charge, so I’m not constantly searching for a charging cable.
Magic Keyboard: Laptop Replacement or Expensive Accessory?
The Magic Keyboard got a mild redesign with a thin floating-cantilever stand, a larger glass trackpad with haptic feedback and a 14 key function row for brightness and volume controls. At first, I wasn’t sure I needed it. TestI mean, it costs as much as a decent Android tablet. But as soon as I snapped the iPad onto the Magic Keyboard, I realized how transformative it is. Typing on it feels nearly as good as my MacBook Air, with just enough travel and no cheap “clack” noise. The built‑in trackpad is smooth and supports multi‑touch gestures likeIpinch to zoom, three-finger swipe, etc. The function row is more useful than I expected; being able to adjust brightness or play/pause music without touching the screen is convenient.
I appreciate that the Magic Keyboard provides front and back protection for the iPad and charges through the pass-through USB C port. If I’m working on a long document or writing blog posts like this one, I attach the Magic Keyboard and basically have a super‑portable laptop. The floating hinge lets me adjust the angle easily. That said, the whole setup becomes quite heavy, and it’s not comfortable to use on my lap for more than 30 minutes. Sometimes the magnet connection also makes me nervous; I dropped the combo once (minor heart attack) and now I always attach a case around it. If you already have the older Magic Keyboard, the improvements might not be big enough to justify the price, but if you’re coming from a naked iPad or a cheap third‑party keyboard, you will notice the difference.
Performance and Productivity: More than Just Power
You might think “Why would anyone need M5 power in an iPad?” That’s exactly what my friend asked when I told him I’d splurged on this thing. For me, the extra horsepower isn’t just about bragging rights; it changes what I can do on the tablet. With the M5 chip and 16 GB of RAM (yes, I went for the top spec because I have no self control), I can keep multiple apps side-by-side without any slowdown. I often have Safari with like ten tabs open on one side, Notes in the middle, and Procreate on the other side while I reference images and sketch. Stage Manager in iPadOS makes window management slightly less of a headache compared to the old days, though I still think Apple’s multitasking UI is clunkier than it should be.
Video editing on the iPad has gone from “possible but slow” to actually enjoyable. I tried editing a short vlog in LumaFusion, adding multiple layers of 4K footage and color grading. The export took minutes, not hours. I even used the built-in microphone to record a voiceover; not studio quality, but serviceable. I sometimes forget I’m on a tablet and not a laptop. Games like Civilization VI and Resident Evil run flawlessly; the only time I heard the fans (yes, there are tiny fans now) was after a long gaming session, and even then it just got warm.
Software is a big part of the productivity story. iPadOS 19 (I think Apple calls it iPadOS 26 now; they changed naming again and I keep forgetting) introduces improved file management, better external monitor support, and a “desktop-class” Safari that actually works for most websites. I connected my iPad to a 27 inch monitor via USB‑C, and I had a dual-screen setup that looked hilarious but worked. I wrote a chunk of this article with my iPad on a stand and an external mechanical keyboard, and it genuinely felt like a mini iMac.
Battery Life and Charging: Pleasant Surprises
One of my worries was battery life. With that bright OLED and powerful chip, I feared it would be tethered to the charger. Surprisingly, the battery life is better than my old model. I get around 10–12 hours of mixed use: drawing, browsing, streaming, note-taking. Apple says the M5’s efficiency improvements help, and I believe them. The included 30 W charger fills the tablet up in about two hours. If you’re using the Magic Keyboard’s pass-through port, charging is slightly slower, but it’s still convenient because you can keep the main port free for accessories. I haven’t experienced any overheating issues; the device gets warm only during heavy gaming or when charging and using at the same time.
Everyday Frustrations and Quirks
No device is perfect, and the 2025 iPad is no exception. First, the price. Oh boy, the price. I had to sell some older gadgets and cut down on eating out for a month to justify it. The base model is expensive, and if you add the Magic Keyboard and Pencil Pro, you’re looking at a cost comparable to a MacBook Pro. That’s a big ask, especially when last year’s M4 iPad is still really powerful. Secondly, while the slim design is gorgeous, it also makes the device feel delicate. I worry about bending it in my backpack. I’ve become paranoid about putting it in a sleeve and then in a padded bag. Third, iPadOS still feels like a super‑charged mobile OS rather than a true desktop replacement. There are little annoyances like apps refreshing when I come back to them, or websites still pushing me to their mobile versions. Apple has improved things, but some limitations remain.
Another silly annoyance: Because the camera is landscape‑oriented now (which is good for video calls), I keep covering it with my hand when I grab the tablet. My friend laughed at me during a Zoom call because half my face was hidden behind my fingers. The Pencil’s matte finish also shows smudges, and I’ve already dropped it off the bed onto the floor once. It survived, but my heart did a double flip.
Should You Upgrade?
Here’s the million‑rupee question: Should you upgrade to the 2025 iPad Pro? If you’re using a 2023 or 2024 iPad Pro with the M2 or M4 chip, the improvements are incremental. The M5 chip is faster and more efficient, but you probably won’t feel a life‑changing difference in normal tasks. The same goes for the display; OLED is beautiful, but you already have that if you bought last year’s model. Where the 2025 model shines is the combination of the M5 chip, the new Apple Pencil Pro, and the improved Magic Keyboard. If you’re an artist, designer, student who takes tons of notes, or someone who uses their iPad as their main computer, these upgrades can genuinely enhance your workflow. I came from a 2018 iPad Pro, so the jump was huge. The screen, performance, battery life, and accessories have transformed the iPad from a media consumption device to a true creative workstation for me.
If you’re on a tight budget or only use your iPad for Netflix, YouTube, and occasional browsing, you can stick with your current device or even get the cheaper iPad Air. The high price and the cost of accessories make this overkill for casual users. For me, though, as someone who loves digital art, note‑taking, and gadget experimentation, the 2025 iPad has been an absolute joy. I find myself reaching for it over my laptop for many tasks. It’s not perfect and sometimes I feel silly for spending so much money on a tablet, but every time I squeeze the Pencil and my tool palette pops up or I use the Magic Keyboard to type this blog post, I smile. That’s worth something.
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So, is the 2025 iPad worth it? For the right person, yes. For everyone else? Maybe not. I hope my messy and honest experience helps you decide whether to take the plunge or to hold onto your perfectly good older iPad for another year.
