Apple has just announced two new processors: the M5 Pro and M5 Max. The new chips will power the MacBook Pro it revealed on Tuesday, offering an 18-core CPU and a new “Fusion Architecture” that integrates two 3nm dies into a single system-on-a-chip (SoC).
The CPU’s 18-core setup includes six “super” cores and 12 new performance cores, which Apple says is “optimized to deliver greater power-efficient, multithreaded performance.” Apple notes that what were previously known as performance cores inside M5-equipped devices — like the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Apple Vision Pro — are now called super cores, representing a boost in performance.
The M5 and M5 Pro chips also come with “all-new” performance cores that are even more efficient, delivering up to 2.5 times higher multithreaded performance compared to the M1 Pro and M1 Max. The chips also feature a neural accelerator in every GPU core, allowing for better ray-tracing and more than four times the peak compute for AI than Apple’s previous generation of chips.
The M5 Pro combines the 18-core CPU with an up to 20-core graphics processor, featuring an enhanced shader core “with second-generation dynamic caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading.” Apple says the M5 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory and delivers up to 20 percent higher graphics performance than the M4 Pro.
Meanwhile, the M5 Max is ideal for 3D animators, app developers, and AI researchers, according to Apple. It offers an up to 40-core GPU with support for up to 128GB of unified memory, as well as 30 percent better ray-tracing performance when compared to the M4 Max.
Both the M5 Pro and M5 Max also feature a faster 16-core neural engine for on-device AI, Thunderbolt 5 support, and Apple’s Memory Integrity Enforcement feature. The two chips will be available with Apple’s new MacBook Pro, which will be available for preorder on Wednesday, ahead of its March 11th launch.
