Apple has just announced new iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and Vision Pro models powered by its brand new M5 chip. The company announced the three new devices via press releases, which doesn’t mean that the upgrades aren’t important. It’s also the first time that a new Apple Silicon chip will be coming to three product lines at the same time.
Just like its M4 predecessor, the Apple M5 is a 3nm chip featuring up to 10 CPU cores (up to 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores), 10 GPU cores, and a 16-core neural engine. On the CPU front, Apple promises “the world’s fastest performance core” and up to 15 percent faster multithreaded performance compared to the M4.
Each GPU core on the M5 now features a neural accelerator to improve GPU-based AI workloads. Apple promises over 4x the peak GPU compute performance compared to M4, and over 6x peak GPU compute for AI performance compared to M1. The M5 also features Apple’s third-generation ray-tracing engine, delivering an up to 45% graphics uplift in apps using ray tracing.
The improved 16-core Neural Engine on the M5 will deliver enhanced performance for Apple Intelligence and other AI workloads. Moreover, the new chip offers faster unified memory bandwidth of 153GB/s, a nearly 30% increase over M4 and more than 2x over M1.
Apple’s new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pros look the same as the previous models with M4 chips, but they come with significant internal upgrades. Apple included its new N1 chip, which enables Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity. “N1 brings better performance when connected to 5GHz networks, and improves the overall performance and reliability of features like Personal Hotspot and AirDrop,” the company said today.
The company’s C1X modem, which first made its debut on the new iPhone Air, is also inside the cellular versions of the M5 iPad Pros. Apple promises up to 50 percent faster cellular data performance than its predecessor, and up to 30 percent less power usage.
Other upgrades include up to 2x faster read and write speeds, 12GB of unified memory on the 256GB and 512GB models, and fast charge support. This will allow users to get up to a 50 percent charge in around 30 minutes with an optional high-wattage USB-C power adapter. Lastly, the M5 iPad Pro can now power external displays with an up to 120Hz refresh rate.
The 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pros are available to pre-order starting today in space black and silver, and they will start shipping on Wednesday, October 22. The 11-inch model starts at $999, and the 13-inch Pro at $1,299.
Apple’s M5 14-inch MacBook Pro also looks similar to the previous M4 model, but besides the faster performance provided by the M5 chip, it offers up to 2x faster SSD performance than the prior generation. Users can also configure it with up to 4TB of storage, which is double the maximum storage of the previous generation.
The M5 MacBook Pro still offers up to 24 hours of battery life and up to 32GB of unified memory, just like the M4 version. That’s probably why Apple is mostly targeting users of the M1 version or older Intel models in its press release.
“When compared to Intel-based systems, it delivers up to 86x faster AI performance, up to 30x faster GPU performance with ray tracing, and up to 5.5x faster CPU performance. M1 upgraders will experience up to 6x faster AI performance, up to 6.8x faster GPU performance with ray tracing, and up to 2x faster CPU performance,” the company said today.
The M5 14-inch MacBook Pro is available for pre-order today at the same starting price of $1599, and it will also start shipping on October 22. It’s available in Space Black and Silver colors, just like the latest iPad Pros.
The Apple Vision Pro is getting its first refresh with the same M5 chip and other minor upgrades. Apple also created an optional Dual Knit band ($99) with upper and lower straps to make the headset more comfortable. The new accessory is available in small, medium, and large sizes, and it’s compatible with the previous-generation Apple Vision Pro.
“With M5, Apple Vision Pro renders 10 percent more pixels on the custom micro-OLED displays compared to the previous generation, resulting in a sharper image with crisper text and more detailed visuals,” the company said today. “Vision Pro can also increase the refresh rate up to 120Hz for reduced motion blur when users look at their physical surroundings, and an even smoother experience when using Mac Virtual Display.”
Other notable upgrades include an upgraded battery that supports up to two and a half hours of general use, and up to three hours of video playback. The Apple Vision Pro with M5 and the Dual Knit Band is now available to pre-order on apple.com, and it will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UAE, the UK, and the U.S on October 22. The new headset is still priced at $3,499 in the US, and it will be available in South Korea and Taiwan later.
