Apple’s New, Best iPad Is Here. Here’s Where to Pre-Order the iPad Pro M5.

It’s that time of the year again. Pumpkin pie, football, sweaters. All trumpets that herald the oncoming onslaught of new Apple products that spew forth from Cupertino like silicon magma raining down from a volcano.

We’re only a few weeks removed from the launch of the iPhone 17, and here we have a new iPad Pro. The Pro M5 surprised absolutely no one by trading last year’s M4 chip for the newer, faster M5 chip. It goes on sale on Wednesday, October 22, but you can pre-order it before then at a few retailers.

expanded (pre-)availability

It’s not typical to see an Apple product appear on third-party retailers’ digital store shelves, except for iPhones and certain wearables at cellular providers. Normally, when it comes to a MacBook or an iPad pre-order, I’d be pointing you toward Apple and only Apple.

But the iPad Pro M5 is making a big entrance this year. Not only can you pre-order it on Amazon, but you can also find it at Best Buy. That’s in addition to the Apple Store, of course.

“The new iPad Pro delivers up to 3.5x the AI performance of iPad Pro with M4 and up to 5.6x faster than iPad Pro with M1,” reads Apple’s October 15 announcement.

I’m not sure how they measured that and why it’s specific to “AI performance,” since although Apple’s new namesake M5 chip (which gives the iPad Pro M5 its moniker) is a screamer, it’s not 3.5 times as fast in overall performance as the M4 chip.

Can’t wait? Well, you have to. But just for a little while longer. The iPad Pro M5 goes on sale on Wednesday, October 22.

Really can’t wait? You can pre-order it in the next few days, and if you buy it online through the Apple Store, it’ll be delivered to you on October 22. Or if you reserve it for in-store pickup, it’ll be waiting for you when you walk through the door.