The latest and greatest iPad Pro was last updated in May 2024 with a breakthrough M4 chip and Ultra Retina XDR display (tandem OLED). The next chip upgrade would logically be the M5, and just like last year, Apple is expected to debut the M5 with the next update to the iPad Pro before the company introduces its lineup of M5 Macs. Other spec upgrades remain unclear, but it looks like we now have more to expect. According to Mark Gurman in his weekly Powered On newsletter, he expects the M5 iPad Pro to feature both portrait and landscape cameras.
Starting with the iPad 2 in 2011, iPad models had the front-facing camera in portrait orientation. However, Apple made the change with the 10th-generation iPad in 2022 when it moved the front camera to the landscape side. Both the iPad Air and iPad Pro later followed suit, and this would be ideal as those iPads have their complimentary Magic Keyboard accessories, so they would be in landscape mode when using the Magic Keyboard. Oddly enough, even though the iPad mini recently got updated as well, the front camera is still on the portrait side. This change could pose a challenge as some people still prefer to make video calls in portrait orientation. So with this upcoming iPad Pro, this solution would be the best of both worlds when it comes to making FaceTime or videoconferencing calls in any orientation. Face ID on iPad Pro has always worked in any orientation.
But adding more components and thus redesigning the internals would mean adding R&D costs in product development, but it looks like the dual front-camera system could serve another purpose to justify this feature. 9to5Mac suggested that this system would allow Desk View on iPad for the first time, similar to how it works on Macs with Center Stage support. This includes:
- M4 Macs with built-in camera (iMac/MacBook Pro/MacBook Air)
- Macs paried with the Studio Display
- Macs paired with an iPhone that has an ultrawide camera (via Continuity Camera)
Either way, it looks like the M5 iPad Pro is going to be a very solid upgrade, especially combined with the biggest changes coming to iPadOS 26, which Apple will certainly promote the iPad Pro with.
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