M5 iPad Pro Gaming Test Shows Meaningful Upgrade

Apple’s M5 iPad Pro is positioned as the most powerful tablet Apple has ever made. A recent deep‑dive by YouTuber MrMacRight examines how it handles console‑grade AAA titles, revealing significant performance and thermal gains while noting that some ports still need work.

The 16‑GB M5 model, featuring a 10‑core CPU, was compared against the M4 and older M1 models using demanding games such as Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage. All titles were run in their native iPad or App Store ports, and settings were kept consistent for fairness.

The M5’s most notable advantage is sustained performance. In extended stress tests it maintained smooth frame rates and lower temperatures longer than the M4, thanks to improved cooling and efficiency. In Resident Evil 4 the M5 averaged 50–60 FPS on balanced settings, while the M4 hovered in the mid‑40s and the M1 struggled to reach 20.

Death Stranding performed even better, running natively at 1080p on very high settings with a steady 30 FPS, or 60 FPS in balanced mode. The visuals were sharp and free of upscaling blur, though minor ghosting appeared on the larger display.

The biggest disappointment came from Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which was capped at 30 FPS regardless of settings. Frequent stutters and fixed‑resolution scaling indicated poor optimisation rather than a hardware limitation.

Overall, the M5 iPad Pro demonstrates that Apple’s latest chip can handle serious gaming without overheating, but hardware is no longer the bottleneck. Until developers fully optimise their AAA ports, the tablet will remain a step shy of a true console replacement.

• Related: Apple M5 performance benchmarks