M5 Pro, Max vs M4 Pro, Max: From architecture to performance, what's new

Apple's M5 Pro and M5 Max debut with Fusion Architecture, redesigned CPU cores and expanded AI acceleration, succeeding the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips

Apple on March 3, 2026, announced the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, powering the new MacBook Pro. They succeed the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips introduced in October 2024. While both generations are built for demanding professional workflows, the newer M5 series brings architectural changes and expanded AI compute capabilities alongside improvements in CPU and GPU performance.

Architecture

The most fundamental difference between the two generations lies in chip design. M4 Pro and M4 Max are built using second-generation 3-nanometre technology. M5 Pro and M5 Max introduce what Apple calls a new Apple-designed Fusion Architecture. This design connects two third-generation 3-nanometre dies into a single system on a chip using high-bandwidth, low-latency packaging. According to Apple, this approach enables significant performance increases while preserving its unified memory architecture.

CPU configuration and performance

CPU core layouts differ notably between the two generations. M4 Pro features up to a 14-core CPU, with up to 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores. M4 Max scales this to up to a 16-core CPU, with up to 12 performance cores and four efficiency cores. M5 Pro and M5 Max move to a new 18-core CPU architecture consisting of six high-performance cores, which Apple now calls “super cores,” and 12 new performance cores designed for power-efficient, multithreaded workloads.

 

Apple says the new CPU architecture in M5 Pro significantly boosts multithreaded performance by up to 30 per cent for pro workloads compared to M4 Pro. For M5 Max, Apple states that the new CPU architecture offers up to 15 per cent higher multithreaded performance compared to M4 Max.

 

The super cores are described as Apple’s highest-performance core design, focused on single-threaded performance, while the additional performance cores are optimised for sustained multithreaded tasks.

GPU and graphics performance

On the graphics side, both generations scale to similar maximum core counts but with architectural updates in the newer chips.

 

M4 Pro supports up to a 20-core GPU, while M4 Max supports up to a 40-core GPU. The GPUs in the M4 family also introduced a 2x faster ray-tracing engine compared to the previous generation.

 

M5 Pro and M5 Max retain the same maximum GPU core counts — up to 20 cores on M5 Pro and up to 40 cores on M5 Max — but move to a next-generation GPU architecture.

 

Apple states that graphics performance in M5 Pro is up to 20 per cent higher than M4 Pro, and graphics performance in M5 Max is up to 20 per cent higher than M4 Max. For apps using ray tracing, M5 Pro provides up to a 35 per cent uplift compared to M4 Pro, while M5 Max provides up to a 30 per cent uplift compared to M4 Max.

 

The newer generation also features Apple’s third-generation ray-tracing engine and hardware-accelerated mesh shading.

AI acceleration and Neural Engine

AI performance is a major focus of the M5 generation. M4 Pro and M4 Max feature a 16-core Neural Engine that Apple says is up to 2x faster than the previous generation, along with enhanced machine learning accelerators in the CPU.

 

With M5 Pro and M5 Max, Apple extends AI acceleration further into the GPU. Each GPU core includes a dedicated Neural Accelerator. Apple says M5 Pro and M5 Max deliver more than 4x the peak GPU compute for AI compared to the previous generation.

 

Both M5 Pro and M5 Max also feature a 16-core Neural Engine with a higher-bandwidth connection to memory, according to Apple.

Unified memory and bandwidth

Maximum unified memory capacity remains unchanged between generations at the top end, but memory bandwidth increases.

 

M4 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory with 273GB/s of memory bandwidth.

M4 Max supports up to 128GB of unified memory with up to 546GB/s of memory bandwidth.

 

M5 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory with memory bandwidth up to 307GB/s.

M5 Max supports up to 128GB of unified memory with memory bandwidth up to 614GB/s.

 

Higher memory bandwidth allows faster data movement between components such as the CPU, GPU and Neural Engine, which is particularly relevant for AI workloads and large datasets.

Media engine and connectivity

M4 Pro and M4 Max introduced Thunderbolt 5 support on the Mac, delivering up to 120Gb/s data transfer speeds.

 

M5 Pro and M5 Max continue to support Thunderbolt 5, with each port supported by its own custom-designed controller integrated directly on the chip.

 

On the media side, M4 Max includes two video encode engines and two ProRes accelerators. M5 Pro and M5 Max feature Apple’s latest Media Engine with hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC support, AV1 decode and ProRes encode and decode engines.