In a series of press releases, and as teased by Joz yesterday, Apple announced a faster M5 chip and three updated products to leverage its power. Apple Newsroom links:

• M5
• Apple Vision Pro
• MacBook Pro 14"
• iPad Pro 11" and 13"

These are welcome spec bumps, but nothing truly earth-shattering here—simply faster, more capable hardware year over year. If you have an M4-based device, you’re unlikely to be tempted unless seconds lost equals money lost. For earlier hardware, especially M1- and Intel-based devices, these represent significant upgrades.

M5

The new M5 chip is built on “third-generation 3-nanometer technology,” and improves unified memory bandwidth to 153GB/s (“a nearly 30 percent increase over M4 and more than 2x over M1”). It’s notably faster than the M4 and earlier M-series chips, with Apple touting its improved performance for AI, gaming, and 3D applications. It’s a beast—and probably overkill for most people.

Apple Vision Pro

The updated Apple Vision Pro with M5 offers “improved display rendering, faster AI-powered workflows, and extended battery life.” It now comes with a redesigned “Dual Knit Band” that is remarkably similar in concept to the 3D-printed solution I and many other Vision Pro users have been sporting. Also included in the box is Apple’s new, descriptively named 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max. Apple Vision Pro (M5) maintains its $3,499 starting price. Preorders start today and will be available in store on October 22.

One meaningful improvement the M5 brings:

With M5, Apple Vision Pro renders 10 percent more pixels on the custom micro-OLED displays compared to the previous generation, resulting in a sharper image with crisper text and more detailed visuals. Vision Pro can also increase the refresh rate up to 120Hz for reduced motion blur when users look at their physical surroundings, and an even smoother experience when using Mac Virtual Display.

Sharper images and reduced motion blur are reasons enough for many current Vision Pro customers to consider upgrading—yours truly included—but Apple does not offer any trade-in options for Apple Vision Pro, making it a nonstarter for most of us.

(I was unrealistically hoping for a trade-in program that would take back my original Vision Pro for something close to full credit, as a thank-you for effectively acting as a beta tester. Preposterous, I know, but no trade-in options seems like a missed opportunity to recapture early adopters.)

The M5 also brings small improvements to battery life (“up to two and a half hours of general use, and up to three hours of video playback”) and performance (“up to 2x faster for third-party apps”).

Apple claims “over 1 million apps” are available for Apple Vision Pro, with “more than 3,000 apps built for visionOS.” I’ll be honest: it doesn’t feel like that many visionOS apps are available.

I also found this plug amusing:

And pro users can assemble and rehearse their presentations while in a seat-for-seat replica of the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park using Keynote.

That’ll be the closest most of us will ever get to trodding that stage.

MacBook Pro 14"

Apple is pushing the MacBook Pro 14"—unsurprisingly—as an AI system. I counted 24 mentions of “AI,” “Neural Engine/Accelerator,” or “LLM.”

The new hardware has “2x faster SSD,” “up to 4TB of storage,” “1.6x faster graphics performance,” “up to 20 percent faster multithreaded performance,” and “24 hours of battery life.”

Sadly, no teal—space black and silver only, again. MacBook Pro 14" (M5) can be preordered today at a starting price of $1,599. Available October 22.

iPad Pro

For many people, this new M5-powered iPad Pro, running iPadOS 26 and connected to a 4K display and keyboard, is all the computer they’ll need.

The iPad Pro can now drive external displays at up to 120Hz, with support for Adaptive Sync for “the lowest possible latency.” It now has the Apple-designed C1X modem and N1 networking chip (which combines Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread). Storage is twice as fast, and the 256GB and 512GB models come with 12GB of high-bandwidth memory (up from 8GB in the M4), while the 1TB and 2TB still contain 16GB. The new iPad Pro also adds fast charging (up to 50% charge in 35 minutes) with a capable charger. Pricing for the 11" iPad Pro starts at $999 for Wi-Fi and $1,199 for Wi-Fi + Cellular, and the 13" iPad Pro starts at $1,299 (Wi-Fi) and $1,499 (Wi-Fi + Cellular). And yes, preorders start today and will be available in stores on October 22.