Apple M5 powered devices arrive

A quiet rollout – so is it a next-generation processor or just a speed bump?

- BY ALEX SUMMERSBY

THE RUMORS WERE on the money. Apple has released a new iPad Pro lineup, 14-inch MacBook Pro, and Apple Vision Pro, all powered by a next-generation M5 chip. Apple says M5 represents “the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon,” but is it all about AI, or does M5 have more to offer? And does the new hardware — all announced merely in press releases — deliver more than just a processor upgrade?

The M5 chip, built using third-generation 3-nanometer technology, introduces a 10-core GPU architecture with a Neural Accelerator in each core. This accelerates GPU-based AI tasks, such as on-device image generation and AI video masking, by up to 3.5x compared to M4, and 6x compared to M1, Apple says.