Apple unveils M5 chip with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU — company says 3nm chip offers 4x peak GPU performance over M4 for AI, 45% graphics uplift

Cupertino just launched its 5th-generation Apple silicon, the M5 chip, with the company saying that it has embedded a neural accelerator in each GPU core, allowing it to run AI workloads much faster. Aside from that, Apple says that the base M5 chip now has a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, giving the newer processor two extra cores in both the graphics and general compute departments compared to the previous generation's entry-level SoC.

“M5 ushers in the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon. With the introduction of Neural Accelerators in the GPU, M5 delivers a huge boost to AI workloads,” Apple Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji said. “Combined with a big increase in graphics performance, the world’s fastest CPU core, a faster Neural Engine, and even higher unified memory bandwidth, M5 brings far more performance and capabilities to MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Apple Vision Pro.”

Although it still uses 3nm technology from TSMC, the N3P process node used on the M5 (versus N3E on the M4) delivers improved capability through slightly higher transistor density. The company says that it has four times the peak GPU performance when it comes to AI processing over the M4, and that it offers up to 45% better graphics quality, plus third-generation ray tracing capability. There’s also a 30% bump in memory bandwidth, with the speed going from 120GB/sec to 153GB/sec in the M5, and, of course, a 15% improvement in multithreaded performance.

Apple’s press release mostly focuses on the chip’s better performance in artificial intelligence workloads, but we’re also hopeful that these numbers will translate to a better gaming experience on the Mac. Unfortunately, we don’t know how the chip will perform compared to its competitors from AMD and Nvidia in the 14-inch MacBook Pro, as we haven’t seen benchmarks yet. However, a leaked Geekbench result of an M5-powered iPad Pro showed the base M5 matching the M4 Max and beating every other competitor in the single-core test.

Those who want to be on the latest, cutting-edge Apple hardware can now pre-order the Apple M5 chip inside the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Apple Vision Pro. The company expects these devices to ship on the 22nd, with in-store availability arriving on the same day.

Those who are already on Apple M3 or newer should wait for third-party benchmarks to appear, just so they know if the M5 is worth upgrading to or if they should wait a couple more years. We also don’t have the Pro and Max versions of the M5 (or the M4 Ultra) just yet, but the company typically waits a few months before releasing them to the public.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.