Apple has unveiled two new Apple Silicon chips today. The M6 chip debuts in a new Mac mini model and marks Apple’s first 2nm processor. The M5 Ultra launches in a refreshed Mac Studio and is Apple’s most powerful chip ever.
The M6 is Apple’s first 2-nanometer chip, which the company says increases transistor density and power efficiency. This allows it to upgrade compute blocks without increasing die size.
The M6 features a 12-core CPU, two more than the M5 chip. Notably, it’s Apple’s first processor with all three CPU core types. That includes two super cores, four performance cores, and 6 efficiency cores.
Super cores prioritize maximum single-threaded performance and are Apple’s most powerful core type. Performance cores are optimized for demanding multithreaded work, and efficiency cores handle background tasks.
All told, Apple says this means M6 has “the world’s fastest single-threaded performance” and offers “up to 1.2x faster multithreaded performance as compared to M5.”
M6 features a 12-core GPU, which is two more cores than M5. There’s a Neural Accelerator in each core. Apple says this enables a 30% increase in peak GPU compute for AI compared to M5. The M6 GPU also features updates to its shader core architecture, Dynamic Caching, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
M6 supports up to 32GB of unified memory with up to 170GB/s of unified memory bandwidth. That’s up to 10% faster than M5.
Additionally, M6 can process FP8 natively in hardware, whereas M5 handles FP8 through software. FP8 is an 8-bit format designed to make AI workloads faster and more memory-efficient
M6 is launching today in the new Mac mini, which you can read more about in our dedicated coverage.
At the high end, Apple has announced the M5 Ultra. The company says this is its “most powerful chip ever.” The headlining change is that the M5 Ultra uses a next-generation UltraFusion technology.
Apple explains that the new UltraFusion technology connects two dual-die M5 Max chips, resulting in its first quad-die chip architecture. The new UltraFusion design delivers more than 4.4TB/s of inter-die bandwidth and over 6x higher connection density, allowing all four dies to behave as a single unified processor.
M5 Ultra offers an up-to-36-core CPU with 12 super cores and 24 performance cores. Apple says this enables up to 1.25x higher single-threaded performance and up to 1.3x higher multithreaded performance compared to M3 Ultra.
For graphics, the M5 Ultra offers a next-generation GPU with up to 80 cores, with a Neural Accelerator in each core. Apple says M5 Ultra offers up to 4.5x peak GPU compute for AI compared to M3 Ultra.
All in all, Apple says you can expect up to 40% faster graphics performance with M5 Ultra compared to M3 Ultra.
M5 Ultra supports up to 512GB of unified memory with up to 1.2TB/s of unified memory bandwidth, which is 50% higher than M3 Ultra.
M5 Ultra is launching today in the new Mac Studio, which you can learn more about in our full coverage.
Follow Chance: Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, and Mastodon.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
Apple’s Mac lineup consists of MacBook, MacBoo…
Apple Silicon is Apple's new lineup of processor…
Chance is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac, overseeing the entire site’s operations. He also hosts the 9to5Mac Daily and 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcasts.
You can send tips, questions, and typos to chance@9to5mac.com.
