One of the big new features that comes with the M5 iPad Pro is the introduction of high refresh rate support for an external display. Until now, all iPads, even those with full external display support, were limited to 60 Hz output. Let’s look at how this new feature works on the M5 iPad Pro.
As a refresher, here’s what external display support looks across the current iPad lineup as of late 2025:
| iPad Model | Max External Display Resolution | Max External Display Refresh Rate | Extended Display Support or Mirrored Only |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPad (A16) | 4K | 60 Hz | Mirroring only |
| iPad mini (A17 Pro) | 4K | 60 Hz | Mirroring only |
| iPad Air (M3) | 6K | 60 Hz | Extended Display |
| iPad Pro (M5) | 6K @ 60 Hz or 4K @ 120 Hz | 120 Hz | Extended Display with |
Video Version
Things You’ll Need
To start, you’ll, of course, the M5 iPad Pro. At the time of this writing, it is the only iPad that supports driving an external display at high refresh rates, but fingers crossed, Apple expands this feature to other models over time.
Your monitor of choice should support high refresh rates (greater than 60 hz), and ideally also support some kind of variable refresh rate technology like NVidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync.
Your monitor should also have a USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode and can connect directly to the tablet’s Thunderbolt port.
If your monitor doesn’t have a USB-C port, you’ll need:
- a compatible USB-C to DisplayPort cable or
- a compatible USB-C to DisplayPort adapter or
- a compatible USB-C to HDMI 2.1 adapter or
- a compatible USB-C to HDMI 2.1 cable .
And when I say “compatible” I mean that it supports DisplayPort 1.4 on the DisplayPort side, or HDMI 2.1 on the HDMI side.
I was unable to get a refresh rate greater than 60 hz on my monitor using a HDMI adapter that claims to support HDMI 2.1. I’m not 100% on this, but I think the iPad is running into an issue that’s been reported with the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports on the M-Series MacBooks, where they only support 4k 60 hz via HDMI adapters. This post from Plugable explains the issue.
The monitor I tested with is the LG 32GS95UV, which doesn’t include a USB-C port (but it’s an awesome OLED gaming monitor). I ended up connecting with a DisplayPort to USB-C cable from UGreen.
One you connect your iPad to the display, the display should default to a refresh rate 120 hz.
Display Options
To view or change the settings for your monitor, you can go into Settings app -> Display & Brightness, and tap on the name of your display. You’ll see a few options here.
Display Zoom gives you some limited scaling options, similar to the iPad display itself.
Going into the Advanced menu gives you additional options.
The Preferred Display Setting is where you enable or disable HDR for the monitor. I’ve yet to find a PC monitor where HDR doesn’t look terrible, so I always leave this off.
The Adaptive Sync toggle enables or disables variable refresh rate on the monitor. Doing this also turns off the setting to limit the displays frame rate, if you have it enabled.
Allow Display Mode Changes is a setting that, in theory, lets software request different refresh rates or color settings, if needed. I leave this on, but I don’t know that it actually does anything for the software I use.
Finally, Limit Refresh Rates locks the monitor’s refresh rate to 60 hz.
BTW, What is Adaptive Sync?
Adaptive Sync is a technology that should already sound familiar to iPad Pro users, it’s essentially the idea behind Apple’s own ProMotion technology. It’s a display technology that allows the refresh rate of the screen to dynamically adjust to the frame rate of the content being displayed. Most people only associate ProMotion with its 120 hz capability, but its magic really is in its adaptivity.
This technology is pretty common in the PC gaming space. Nvidia and AMD have had their own implementations of this idea, G-Sync and Freesync, respectively, for years. Now the iPad Pro can drive this technology on an external monitor. The net effects are smoother scrolling, more responsive UI animations, and fewer visual artifacts on compatible high-refresh-rate monitors.
Troubleshooting
If your high refresh rate monitor isn’t running at 120 hz when your iPad is plugged in, here are few things to check:
- If your monitor supports setting its resolution and/or refresh rate via its own settings, ensure those values are set correctly.
- Verify your adapter or cable supports high refresh rates. On the HDMI side especially, it’s very common for adapters to only support up to HDMI 2.0, which doesn’t do 4k 120 hz.
- If your monitor has a setting for enabling or disabling DSC (Display Stream Compression), you may want to turn this off. My monitor was stuck at 4k 60 until I did this.
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