Apple has been quietly discounting its hardware on Amazon this week, and the iPad Pro M5 is part of that wave. The 11-inch model with 256GB and Wi-Fi is down to $899, off its $999 list price and within a few dollars of its record low on Amazon. This deal is open to all Amazon customers with no Prime membership required, on a tablet that represents the current ceiling of what Apple makes in this category.
M5 chip
The M5 chip in the iPad Pro brings Neural Accelerators specifically designed for on-device AI workloads, which is a hardware addition that goes beyond the Neural Engine found in the M4 generation. The practical impact shows up in Apple Intelligence features that run faster and more complex inference locally, in computational photography that processes images with more detail, and in pro app workflows that can delegate AI tasks to dedicated silicon rather than sharing compute with the CPU and GPU. Combined with 16GB of unified memory on all iPad Pro configurations, the M5 handles sustained professional workloads that would thermal-throttle a lesser chip in a fanless tablet chassis.
The Ultra Retina XDR display runs at 2420-by-1668 at 264 pixels per inch with ProMotion adaptive refresh up to 120Hz, extreme peak brightness, and precise local dimming contrast that the standard Liquid Retina display in the iPad Air cannot match. P3 wide color and True Tone cover the color accuracy requirements for photo editing, video grading, and illustration work where display fidelity directly affects output quality. The nano-texture glass option is available on higher storage configurations for anyone working in bright environments where reflections are a concern.
Wi-Fi 7 with Apple N1, LiDAR scanner, landscape camera, iPadOS 26
Wi-Fi 7 handled by Apple’s dedicated N1 wireless chip delivers the fastest wireless connectivity Apple has put in any iPad, covering multi-gigabit transfer speeds on compatible routers and significantly lower latency than Wi-Fi 6E for any network-intensive workflow. The LiDAR scanner enables AR applications, instant autofocus in low light, and depth-sensing capabilities that the iPad Air does not include. The landscape 12MP Center Stage front camera is positioned for the way most people hold an iPad when video calling in landscape orientation, keeping the camera on the short edge rather than the long edge for a more natural framing during calls.
iPadOS 26 with the Liquid Glass design and the redesigned windowing system is where the M5’s performance becomes most visible in daily use. The flexible windowing system handles overlapping and resizable app windows in a way that previous iPadOS versions could not, and the pro app ecosystem including Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Adobe Creative Cloud runs at full desktop capability on the M5’s hardware.
The gap between the iPad Pro and every other iPad in the lineup has never been larger in terms of hardware capability, and the gap between this price and what Apple charges at launch has rarely been this small outside of a major sale event. At $899 near its record low, the iPad Pro M5 256GB is the closest this tablet has come to an impulse buy, which for a product at this level of capability is not a sentence that gets written often.
