On Wednesday, Apple announced the release of its M5 processor, saying the chip “ushers in the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon.” The M5 appears in new versions of the iPad Pro, MacBook Pro and Vision Pro, all of which are now available for pre-order to US and UK customers.
“A faster, more efficient and productive chip”
The M5, as you'd expect, is a more powerful chip than its M4 predecessor. While it's still built using 3nm technology (albeit 3rd gen compared to the 2nd gen on the M4), Apple claims significant improvements in graphics speed in particular.
According to the announcement, the M5's 10-core GPU architecture with a neural accelerator in each core delivers “more than 4x the peak GPU compute performance of the M4” as well as “advanced graphics capabilities and third-generation ray tracing.” Overall, Apple claims the new chip is capable of delivering up to 45 percent faster graphics performance than the M4.
On the processor side, what Apple calls the “world's fastest performance core” promises a 15 percent boost in multi-threaded performance over the M4. And single memory throughput has been improved by almost 30 percent to 153 GB/s.
This all sounds good on paper, but what is all this theoretical power for? Apple makes it clear: artificial intelligence. Unlike the M4 announcement in May 2024, which only mentioned artificial intelligence twice in the first seven paragraphs, the M5 press release mentions the current obsession with technology in the headline, first subheading, captions of the first two images: twice in the first paragraph, twice in the second paragraph. three once in the third paragraph…
So we can expect even more discussion about Apple Intelligence next year. But for now we can focus on the first three products with the M5 chip.
Incoming competing chips: Panther Lake Unveiled: Deep Dive into Intel's Next-Generation Laptop Processor And Test: Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme beats Intel laptop processors
New iPad Pro
The new iPad Pro will be released in the fall of 2025, and the M5 is its main, if not almost the only, significant update. The M5 Pro is the same size, same design, available in the same colors and is otherwise virtually identical to the M4 in all but four respects: it's powered by the M5 chip, Wi-Fi 6E has been replaced by Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 has been replaced by Bluetooth 6, and there's new fast charging capability.
The M5 is obviously the major change, and Apple says this means the new device delivers “AI performance up to 3.5 times faster than iPad Pro with M4 and up to 5.6 times faster than iPad Pro with M1.” However, the latest addition to my list could also be an attractive upgrade. Apple says the new iPad Pro can be charged up to 50 percent in 30 minutes if you have the right adapter.
There is one more change, but it only applies to cellular models. They get Apple C1x modem which was presented along with the iPhone 17.
The iPad Pro M5 starts at $999/£999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299/£1,299 for the 13-inch model. This is available for pre order starting today and goes on sale Wednesday, October 22nd. For more information about this product, visit our iPad Pro news center
New MacBook Pro
As rumored before the announcement, Apple will only announce the new MacBooks with the standard M5 chip; there's no sign of higher-end models with the M5 Pro or M5 Max. As before, the M5 laptop is only available in 14-inch size.
Like the iPad Pro, the main upgrade to the MacBook Pro is the M5 chip. Apple says this delivers “up to 3.5 times faster AI performance and up to 1.6 times faster graphics than the previous generation.” But there's also improved battery life (about 24 hours compared to 22 hours on the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro) and faster SSD performance.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 starts at $1,599/£1,599. It's available for pre-order starting today and goes on sale Wednesday, October 22nd. For more information about this product, visit our MacBook Pro M5 news center
New Vision Pro
Finally, the M5 appears in the second version of Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset. The company says this will mean “faster performance, greater system-wide detail, and even longer battery life, setting a new standard for spatial computing capabilities.”
In addition to the M5 chip, the new Vision Pro features a new soft Dual Knit Band for enhanced comfort. M2 Vision Pro owners can order a new group for 99 dollars.
The updated version of Vision Pro is available for pre order starting today for customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, UAE, UK and US and will go on sale in these countries on Wednesday 22 October. Other countries will follow.
This article originally appeared about our sister publication McMir.
