Apple’s upcoming M5 iPad Pro may feature a second front-facing camera, allowing you to take great selfies in both portrait and landscape orientations.
Mark Gurman wrote in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter on Bloomberg that Apple would equip its upcoming M5-based iPad Pro with dual front-facing cameras instead of one. He didn’t clarify whether both 11-inch and 13-inch models would feature two front-facing cameras or just the 13-incher.
The chief reason for this unusual decision is apparently usability, as it would enable iPad Pro owners to take natural-looking selfies in any orientation. A portrait iPad camera isn’t good for video calling in landscape mode because you then look sideways instead of straight at the camera, breaking eye contact.
M5 iPad Pro could have two FaceTime cameras for great selfies in any orientation
Relocating a FaceTime camera to the iPad’s long edge solves this—unless you prefer to FaceTime in portrait orientation! To satisfy both Team Portrait and Team Landscape, Apple will repeatedly add two front cameras to the next iPad Pro.
“Apple is apparently adding a second, portrait-side front-facing camera to the upcoming M5 iPad Pro, presumably so FaceTimers and selfie fans can use the device equally well in either orientation,” Gurman wrote. “This isn’t particularly revolutionary, but it’s a nice enhancement.”
The iPad from its onset has been a device that can be freely used in any orientation. As Steve Jobs put it at the iPad unveiling in 2010, “I don’t have to change myself to fit the iPad, it fits me.”
The only problem with that is the front camera, which until recently used to be located in the bezel at the top of the screen in portrait orientation. But because iPads are mostly used in landscape orientation, especially in combination with a Magic Keyboard attachment, eye contact is lost as chat participants appear to look sideways.
Apple started fixing this with the release of the tenth-generation iPad in 2022, which relocated the FaceTime camera along the landscape edge instead of the display top in the portrait orientation. Apple says this makes video calls a bit better. A landscape FaceTime camera has since expanded to the M2 iPad Air (2024), M3 iPad Air (2025) and M4 iPad Pro (2024)
Fixing weird videoconferencing angles
At any rate, this is a weird rumor that I’d expect from a shady Chinese account with no established track record, not Bloomberg. But it’s never a wise idea to bet against Mark Gurman, so I’m willing to exercise the idea of an iPad Pro with dual front-facing cameras. It just seems like an unreasonable investment just to fix weird angles when videoconferencing in the wrong orientation, that’s all.
Apple should unveil an M5-based update to the iPad Pro later this year, probably in October after new iPhones arrive in September. Expect nothing more than a “chip-and-ship” update where the existing M4 chip is swapped for a speedier M5 processor while maybe adding some new color finishes before calling it a day.
The next iPad Pro should be Apple’s first device to use the upcoming M5 chip. The first Mac computers based on the M5 chip are expected to launch in the first half of 2026. The M5 chip reportedly entered mass production in February. And with the iPad being used more and more in landscape mode, future models could also have a landscape Apple logo out the back.