Apple this week unveiled its M5 chip which delivers the next big leap in AI performance and advances to nearly every aspect of the chip. Built using third-generation 3-nanometer technology, M5 introduces a next-generation 10-core GPU architecture with a Neural Accelerator in each core, enabling GPU-based AI workloads to run dramatically faster, with over 4x the peak GPU compute performance compared to M4.
The GPU also offers enhanced graphics capabilities and third-generation ray tracing that combined deliver a graphics performance that is up to 45 percent higher than M4.
M5 features the world’s fastest performance core, with up to a 10-core CPU made up of six efficiency cores and up to four performance cores. Together, they deliver up to 15 percent faster multithreaded performance over M4.
M5 also features an improved 16-core Neural Engine, a powerful media engine, and a nearly 30 percent increase in unified memory bandwidth to 153GB/s.
Hassam Nasir for Tom’s Hardware:
New Geekbench listings spotted by Tech Info reveal that the performance in single-core scores is enough to rival Intel’s Ultra 9 285K and breeze past AMD’s 9950X3D. As is to be expected, it struggles in multi-core against those models, but the results show the potential of Apple’s latest silicon and the surely-inevitable Pro and Max variants of this new chip.
The M5 iPad Pro scores 4,138 points in the single-core test, outperformed by the M5 MacBook Pro, which scores 4,263 points… [T]he M5 MacBook Pro scores 17,862 points versus the iPad’s 16,366 — constituting a 9% difference in performance. That’s with the same 10-core base configuration on either device, but the MacBook does have active cooling and a much thicker chassis that can prevent thermal throttling and allow the chip to boost higher, sustaining that for longer periods of time.
Apple never actually discloses clock speed numbers in its tech specs, but in the Geekbench listings, we see that the iPad Pro’s M5 ran at 4.43 GHz, while the MacBook Pro’s M5 topped out at 4.61 GHz. So, this doesn’t necessarily equate to chip binning, but more so the enhanced cooling factor.
More importantly, though, these numbers are enough to beat the recently-launched Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, which scored around 4,080 points in the single-core Geekbench test, meaning the M5 in even the iPad is faster — and that’s using official Qualcomm numbers.
Intel’s Core i9-14900KS scores 4,457 points in the single-core test, making it 4.6% faster. The current-gen Core Ultra 9 285K isn’t far off at 4,306 points, rendering the M5 only about 1% slower. AMD’s fastest chip on Geekbench is actually the midrange Ryzen 5 7600 with 4,226 points, but that test is deemed invalid; therefore, both the 9950X and the 9800X3D take the top spot, with 3,616 (and 3,615) points — which the M5 comfortably bests.
MacDailyNews Take: Not so elite there, Snapdragon!
Sure, the M5 is an impressive bit of silicon, but the real head-turners are going to the be early 2026’s M5 Pro, M5 Max, and, hopefully, eventually, the M5 Ultra. As it is, the new 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro is the perfect road Mac, with plenty of power and battery life for the vast majority of users (at least until the M5 MacBook Air comes along – which we expect will be early next year).
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