Apple M5 A Generational Leap in AI Performance
With the official announcement of its fifth-generation silicon, Apple launched the M5 chip. For the first time, the architecture of the processor has introduced a neural accelerator, embedded directly into each GPU core, to facilitate orders of magnitude acceleration of AI workload tasks. The base M5 model has also extended a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, thus bringing an upgrade of two cores for each compared to the last generation.
Advancements of M5 Chip First Impressions
While still manufactured using 3nm technology, the M5 uses TSMC's more advanced N3P process node, which offers slightly higher transistor density than the N3E process used for the M4. This translates to several key performance enhancements namely:
- AI Processing: AI Work on the M5 is said by Apple to get four times the GPU peak performance compared to the M4.
- Graphics Quality: Graphics quality on the new chip has been enhanced by 45% and introduced third-generation ray tracing.
- CPU Performance: 15% improvement is expected in multithreading.
- Memory Bandwidth: Now we have a 30% higher unified memory bandwidth, which is increased from 120GB/s to 153GB/s.
"M5 ushers in the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon," said Johny Srouji, Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies at Apple. "With the introduction of Neural Accelerators in the GPU, M5 delivers a huge boost to AI workloads."
Performance Expectations and Benchmarks
While the focus was placed on AI capabilities in the announcement, graphical improvements will also enhance the gaming experience on Mac devices. No official benchmarks comparing the M5 against other offerings from AMD and Nvidia exist at this time.
A leaked Geekbench score, however, from an M5-powered iPad Pro suggested that in single-core workloads, the M5 base chip was equal to the M4 Max and exceeded all other competitors in that particular benchmark.
Availability and Upgrade Considerations
The Apple M5 is pre-order in the new MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Apple Vision Pro start now. The machines are expected to ship soon and be in stores on the 22nd.
Users should be recommended to wait for independent, third-party benchmarking before deciding to upgrade from their M3 chip devices and onward. The more powerful versions, called the M5 Pro and M5 Max, have not thus far been issued, for Apple generally launches them some months after the base edition.
