The M5 iPad Pro will likely sport two front-facing cameras in vertical and horizontal positions.
The M5 iPad Pro, currently expected to launch in October 2025, will come with more than just a new chip and a thinner bezel: Apple will add a second front-facing camera in the formerly traditional portrait orientation.
The next iPad Pro will most prominently feature the M5 processor. The forthcoming update is said to have been in testing since at least March.
However, a new report says another big change is coming. Apple will add a second front-facing camera in order to make it easier for users to unlock the device when using it in its traditional vertical position, according to Bloomberg.
It’s likely that the same sensors that orient the display to landscape or portrait mode will also choose which front camera to use.
Apple moved the front-facing camera to the landscape orientation when it released the M4 iPad Pro in May 2024, along with making the device thinner and lighter. This made it possible to use Face ID while turned horizontally, as well as facilitating more use for videoconferencing and selfies.
Rumors have suggested that the bezels on the front of the M5 iPad Pro could also shrink further due to changes in the OLED display. This could make it necessary to change the design of the front-facing cameras in order to fit within the reduced bezel space.
Longstanding rumors of a foldable iPad or iPad Pro with a larger screen size are still expected to come to fruition, but on track for a debut in 2027 or possibly 2028.
The iPad Pro was first introduced in late 2015. This was quickly followed by a one-off 9.7-inch iPad Pro in early 2016, followed by successive 11-inch and 12.9-inch generations in 2017 and 2018.
The roughly annual updates continued up to the sixth-gen model in October of 2022. The current seventh-gen model arrived in May of 2024.
If the eighth-gen arrives in the fall of 2025 as expected, an M6 iPad Pro could debut as soon as early 2027.
