iPad Pro M5 battery drain watching video in Safari. 60% in 2 hours. Normal?
I’ve had my iPad Pro M5 11” (256GB, Space Black) for about two weeks, currently running iPadOS 26.4, and today I noticed something that honestly seems really wrong.
I went from 80% to 20% battery in about 2 hours, and all I was doing was watching a series in Safari.
No emulation.
No multitasking.
No apps in the background.
When I opened the app switcher, Safari was the only app running.
Brightness was around 60%, not max.
Wi-Fi only.
No accessories connected.
According to battery usage, Safari used 89%, and screen-on time was continuous video playback.
What makes this even more confusing is that when I do the exact same thing on my iPhone 16 Pro Max, I don’t see this kind of battery drain at all. Same type of streaming, same conditions, same brightness range, completely normal battery behavior.
Right now I even find myself having to charge the iPad 2–3 times a day, which really doesn’t feel normal for a device like this.
People often recommend iPads for studying, multitasking, and media consumption, but in conditions like this it’s just not practical. If I constantly need to keep it plugged in, it defeats the purpose. This device is supposed to be built for multitasking and multimedia, so the battery should at least be able to handle those basic use cases.
Losing 60% in just 2 hours of video playback feels really unacceptable, especially since Apple advertises around 9–10 hours of video playback.
Is this normal?
Is Safari known to drain battery this much on iPadOS 26.4?
Or should I consider returning/exchanging the device?
Honestly, this seems pretty bad.