If you’ve been eyeing a MacBook Pro or iPad Pro, the tea leaves say: wait a minute.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s online store is showing longer delivery windows for some current iPad Pro configurations, and custom orders of the base 14-inch MacBook Pro are slipping toward late October—classic signs that new models are likely on the way.
What these signs most likely mean is that Apple is readying the introduction of the base M5 chip. And what products do Apple’s base model chip go into? You guessed it, iPad Pros and 14-inch MacBook Pros.
On the Mac side, that means we’re most likely looking at a new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 launching soon, with higher-end M5 Pro/Max versions following later (potentially in 2026). Don’t expect a redesign; reporting frames these new MacBook Pros as spec-bump models focused on silicon gains rather than new hardware features. A recent FCC filing listing a single MacBook Pro model also lines up with a “one model first” rollout.
What kind of improvements are rumors pointing to with M5? Early analysis of M5 performance (based on leaked benchmarks tied to Apple’s roadmap) suggests roughly a 10–15% CPU increase generation-over-generation, plus efficiency gains that could translate to longer battery life. GPU improvements are expected too, but the overall story sounds like steady, iterative speed and battery wins rather than a revolution.
For iPad Pro, two upgrades keep surfacing in the rumors and reporting: the jump to the M5 chip and a higher base memory configuration—moving the entry model from 8GB to 12GB of RAM. For creative pros juggling big RAW files, multi-layer timelines, or AI-assisted workflows, that extra memory would be a meaningful quality-of-life boost even before you factor in the M5’s CPU efficiency gains.
The Bottom Line
As of this writing, indicators point to new Macs and iPads landing soon, with improvements centered on Apple’s M5 silicon—modest but welcome jumps in speed and battery life on Mac, and the same chip plus more baseline RAM on iPad Pro. If you can wait, you’ll either get the latest hardware or see discounts on the outgoing models. If you can’t, today’s machines remain excellent—but consider your timing carefully.
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