All the New M5 Products Apple Just Announced
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Sometimes Apple holds big presentations to announce new products and services. Other times, the company just releases the news on a random Wednesday morning. This Wednesday morning is an example: following a preview on social networks, Apple announced the M5 chip, as well as three products that will launch this new era of Apple silicon: the 14-inch MacBook Pro M5, the iPad Pro and Vision Pro.
The M5 chip
The big news that unifies all updated Apple products today is the M5 chip. As the name suggests, this is the company’s fifth generation of Apple silicon, its custom system-on-a-chip (SoC).
Apple sells M5 as an AI-optimized chip. The company claims that the new 16-core Neural Engine improves both the performance and efficiency of AI processes. This means that Apple Intelligence features should be faster and more accurate, although I’m not sure that’s enough to convince me to use it.
Additionally, the chip’s 10-core GPU has a dedicated “neural accelerator” in each core, which delivers more than four times the GPU computing of the M4 chip and six times the M1. Apple is specifically touting improvements to the new 14-inch MacBook Pro and iPad Pro, which can now take advantage of “accelerated processing” for AI tasks, like running diffusion models and large language models.
In other graphics gains, the M5’s GPU and improved shader cores can be up to 30% faster than the M4 and up to 2.5x faster than the M1. It comes with Apple’s third-generation ray tracing engine, which offers a boost to any process that uses ray tracing to calculate lighting effects. These improved graphics mean the new Apple Vision Pro can render 10% more pixels and handle refresh rates up to 120Hz.
The M5’s unified memory now has 153 GB/s bandwidth, a nearly 30% jump over the M4 and a more than 2x increase over the M1, according to Apple. All devices running M5 can access the entire memory pool simultaneously, which Apple says allows larger AI models to be run entirely on the device. This is great privacy news for anyone using AI on those MacBooks, iPads, or Vision Pros. Users can configure the M5 to have up to 32GB of RAM.
MacBook Pro
Credit: Apple
Apple did something interesting with its launch of the M5 for Mac: it only started with the 14-inch MacBook Pro. If you want a 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5, you’ll have to wait.
This new 14-inch MacBook Pro delivers all of the new performance gains Apple announced for the M5 chip, with some unique benefits as well. Apple claims this machine has up to 24 hours of battery life, which, if true, would be huge: You could work two full 12-hour days before needing to find a charger for your MacBook.
M5 also brings upgrades to this MacBook Pro’s SSD, which Apple says will make professional workflows like importing RAW images or exporting large video files easier.
Other than that, this is the same 14-inch MacBook Pro you already know. You get the Liquid Retina XDR display with a 12MP Center Stage camera, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, and three USB-C ports, in silver or black. It even starts at the same $1,599 price as the M4 MacBook Pro, for the model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
What do you think of it so far?
iPad Pro
Credit: Apple
Like the new MacBook Pro, the iPad Pro appears unchanged except for the new M5 and its performance gains. But there’s a little more under the hood than the new chip. Apple says the iPad Pro cellular models feature the company’s C1X modem, which can deliver up to 50 percent faster cellular data performance. If you’re opting for cellular iPads, that’s good news, although I always opt for the Wi-Fi-only model and use my iPhone as a hotspot. To each their own.
In addition to the C1X, these new iPads also feature the N1 chip, which supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread. Apple says N1 supports better performance on 5GHz networks and improves the performance of features like AirDrop and Personal Hotspot.
Apple says the 256GB and 512GB iPad Pros start here with 12GB of RAM. That’s 4GB more than the M4 iPad Pros, which started at 8GB each. You’ll also notice faster charging speeds on these new iPads: Apple says that with the right adapter, such as the company’s new Dynamic Power Adapter, you can reach 50% battery in about 30 minutes. These iPads also now support external displays running up to 120Hz.
VisionPro
Credit: Apple
The M5 chip is even coming to a refreshed Vision Pro. Apple’s mixed reality headset may not be the success story the company wanted, but it hasn’t abandoned the device either. On the contrary, this Vision Pro here presents some improvements in addition to the performance, efficiency and AI gains of the M5.
As mentioned above, the new Vision Pro can now render 10% more pixels on its micro-OLED displays compared to the previous generation. It can also boost the refresh rate to 120Hz when needed, which should help sell the illusion of virtual reality, including when working with virtual displays.
But it’s not just about technology. Apple has improved the Vision Pro’s headband, particularly the Dual Knit Band. Apple says this band should be more comfortable, with “3D knitted” top and bottom straps. The bottom strap in particular provides a counterbalance, which should help relieve some of the pressure on the user while wearing it. Unfortunately, this bracelet is a separate purchase for $99. Like the current Vision Pro, this model starts at $3,499 for 256GB of internal storage.
All of these devices are available for pre-order starting today and will be available in stores on October 22.
