Apple today announced the newest member of the Apple Silicon family: M5. Apple calls M5 a big leap forward for for the family of chips with a clear focus on on-device AI.
Built on third-generation 3-nanometer tech, M5 debuts a 10-core GPU architecture that adds a Neural Accelerator in every GPU core, delivering over 4× the peak GPU compute for AI vs. M4. Apple also says graphics performance climbs by up to 45% in apps that use its latest ray-tracing engine.
Under the hood, M5 pairs that new GPU with what Apple describes as the world’s fastest performance core in a CPU configuration, capable of scaling to 10 cores (up to four performance and six efficiency). Apple’s figures cite up to 15% faster multithreaded performance over M4. There’s also a refreshed 16-core Neural Engine and a notable bump in unified memory bandwidth to 153GB/s. That’s nearly 30% higher than M4 and more than 2× M1—headroom that should help bigger local models and heavy multitasking.
For everyday Mac users, the headline is simple: more speed where it’s starting to matter—AI-enhanced features—without sending requests to the cloud. Apple highlights faster local image generation in Image Playground and generally snappier Apple Intelligence responses, thanks to the combo of the Neural Engine and those per-core GPU accelerators. Because the GPU architecture ties tightly into Apple’s frameworks, apps that already use Core ML, Metal Performance Shaders, or Metal 4 can see gains automatically, and developers can go deeper via new Tensor APIs.
Gamers and graphics fans also get quality-of-life perks: third-gen ray tracing, enhanced shader cores, and second-gen dynamic caching for smoother frame pacing and more realistic visuals. Apple says Vision Pro benefits too, rendering 10% more pixels and supporting refresh rates up to 120Hz for crisper motion.
Speaking of the product side, M5 also powers the new 14-inch MacBook Pro and iPad Pro. Along with the updated VIsion Pro, Apple says all of these new M5 products are available for pre-order today.
The takeaway
For Mac enthusiasts, M5 looks like the first Apple chip where AI isn’t just an add-on—it’s threaded through the GPU, CPU, and software stack. The practical upside should be faster image tools, smarter system features that feel immediate because they’re on-device, and a healthier boost to gaming and 3D performance.
If you’ve been holding out since an M1 or M2 machine, this is the generation where AI-centric acceleration, higher memory bandwidth, and graphics upgrades arrive together—without giving up Apple’s usual strengths in efficiency and battery life.
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