iPad Pro 10.5-inch review: incredible screen and powerful processor, but it's expensive, especially with accessories like the Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil
Apple extends its tablet lead, but iOS 11 might end up being a bigger deal — A little more than a year after Apple released …
Context & Ripple Effects
This review lands mid-arc in a decade-long Apple argument. The original 12.9-inch iPad Pro was dinged for the same two things — great hardware hobbled by iOS 9's limitations and a steep price — and AnandTech's early teardown found the A9X had no real ARM competition while calling the Smart Keyboard a letdown. The Verge's verdict here repeats the pattern: best-in-class screen and processor, but the accessory bill climbs fast.
What makes this installment matter is timing: Ars Technica's parallel review notes iOS 11 is still three months away, so reviewers are scoring hardware against software that hasn't shipped. The question of whether iPadOS can ever justify Pro pricing stays open until much later — the M5 iPad Pro review in 2025 shows iPadOS finally getting more Mac-like, eight years on.
First-order effects
- Buyers considering the 10.5-inch iPad Pro face a laptop-level total cost once the Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil are added, making the accessory bundle — not the tablet price — the real purchase decision.
- Apple ships its strongest tablet hardware yet into a three-month software gap, so early adopters are paying Pro prices for capabilities iOS 10 can't yet unlock.
Second-order effects
- The recurring 'expensive with accessories' verdict pressures Apple's tiering: the later iPad Air (2020) answers by accepting Pro accessories at a lower entry price, splitting the lineup between price and capability.
- Every review cycle that praises the chip while faulting the OS shifts competitive pressure from silicon rivals to Apple's own software roadmap — the hardware lead is uncontested, so iPadOS becomes the bottleneck it must clear itself.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds across these reviews — unbeaten hardware, contested software value — the iPad line's identity resolves not as a cheaper laptop but as a distinct platform whose justification rests entirely on how Mac-like iPadOS becomes, which is exactly the axis the 2025 M5 review is scored on.
The trend: Across a decade of iPad Pro reviews, Apple's silicon and display leads go unchallenged while the deciding variable migrates from hardware specs to whether iPadOS earns the Pro price tag.