Apple’s M5 Ultra and M6 Chips: The Power Upgrade
Apple debuts the M5 Ultra and M6 chips, promising massive AI performance but confusing naming and price hikes for the Mac Studio.
The update
Apple has unveiled two new processors: the M5 Ultra and the M6. The M5 Ultra, described as the company’s most powerful chip, fuses two dual-die M5 Max chips to create a quad-die processor. It features up to 36 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores, with memory bandwidth reaching 1.2TB/s. The M6 is positioned for everyday users, offering a 12-core CPU complex and improved energy efficiency. These chips will power the new Mac Studio and Mac Mini models.
Why it matters
The new chips are a significant step for AI workloads on Mac. The M5 Ultra is designed to handle complex 3D rendering and frontier AI models. Apple claims the M5 Ultra offers up to 4.3x faster AI compute than its predecessor. The M6 aims to improve on-device LLM processing speed by nearly 30%. This shift supports running and fine-tuning large AI models locally on Mac devices.
What to watch
Readers should monitor the pricing for the highest-end M5 Ultra configuration, which is set to launch in late October with a yet-to-be-announced price. The unusual “M6” designation also warrants attention to see if it signals a new naming convention for consumer chips.
Sources
- techcrunch.com — M5 Ultra specs, M6 positioning, AI workload details
- theverge.com — Mac Studio pricing, M5 Ultra vs M3 Ultra comparison, M5 Max reintroduction