Apple unveiled the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, featuring a new “Fusion Architecture” that combines two dies into a single system on a chip.
The new chips target professional workstations and artificial intelligence applications, promising significant performance gains over the previous M4 generation. Apple stated the architecture allows for higher unified memory bandwidth and increased AI compute capabilities.
The M5 Pro and M5 Max feature an 18-core CPU with six “super cores” and 12 “all-new performance cores.” Apple said this configuration improves performance by up to 30 percent for pro workloads. The company described the super cores as the “world’s fastest CPU core,” though this claim requires third-party verification.
The GPU includes up to 40 cores, each equipped with a Neural Accelerator. Apple stated this design offers over 4x the peak GPU compute for AI compared to the previous generation. Graphics performance is boosted by up to 35 percent for apps using ray tracing compared to the M4 Pro and M4 Max.
The new MacBook Pro, powered by the M5 Pro and M5 Max, is available for pre-order starting March 4. The hardware is scheduled to arrive on March 11.
Devindra Hardawar, an Apple Silicon expert, stated that benchmarks have proven the company’s previous claims of having the “world’s fastest” core true. The two-die design is not novel, as companies like Intel and AMD have implemented similar architectures.
Apple announced the new chips as part of a broader week of announcements, which also included a new MacBook Air powered by the base M5 chip.
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