Apple M2 Max
vs
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores

vs

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M2 Max and Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

  • More Total Cores: 18 (12 vs 18)
  • Higher Technology: Third-generation 3 nm (5 nm vs Third-generation 3 nm)
  • Newer Launch Date: March 2026 (January 2023 vs March 2026)

Basic

Apple
Label Name
Apple
January 2023
Launch Date
March 2026
Laptop
Platform
Laptop
Apple Avalanche + Apple Blizzard
CPU Architecture
Apple custom ARM architecture
Apple M2 Max
CPU Name
Apple M5 Pro
Apple M2 Max
Model Name
Apple M5 Pro 18-Core
TSMC
Foundry
TSMC N3P
Apple M2 series
Generation
M5 Pro

CPU Specifications

-
Interconnect Technology
Apple Fusion Architecture
-
Performance-core Multi-Core Max Frequency
4.38 GHz
-
Super-core Max Frequency
4.61 GHz
12
Total Cores
Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).
18
12
Total Threads
18
8
Performance-cores
12
4
Efficient-cores
-
-
Super-cores
6
-
Max Turbo Frequency
4.61 GHz
2.424 GHz
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency
-
NEON
Instruction Set Extensions
-
3.696 GHz
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency
-
ARMv8-A, NEON
Extended Instruction Set
-
P-cores: 192 KB instruction + 128 KB data per core; E-cores: 128 KB instruction + 64 KB data per core
L1 Cache
-
P-core cluster: 36 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB
L2 Cache
-
48 MB system level cache
L3 Cache
-
5 nm
Technology
Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.
Third-generation 3 nm
ARMv8-A
Instruction Set
An instruction set architecture (ISA) defines the instructions a processor can execute. Common architectures include x86-64, ARM and RISC-V. The ISA determines software compatibility, while optional instruction extensions add specialized capabilities.
-
67 billion
Transistor Count
-

Memory Specifications

512-bit
Memory Bus Width
-
Unified LPDDR5-6400
Memory Type
LPDDR5X unified memory
LPDDR5-6400
LPDDR5 Speed
-
96 GB
Max Memory Size
Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.
64 GB
400 GB/s
Max Memory Bandwidth
Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).
307 GB/s
6400 MT/s
Maximum Memory Speed
9600 MT/s

GPU Specifications

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1
External Display Standard
Thunderbolt / DisplayPort 2.1 over USB-C; HDMI
Apple M2 Max GPU
GPU Name
Apple M5 Pro 20-core GPU
-
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
Supported
Up to three 6K 60Hz displays plus one 4K 144Hz display; or up to two 6K 60Hz displays plus one 8K 60Hz / 4K 240Hz display
Max External Display Resolution
Up to three external displays: three displays up to 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 144Hz; or one display up to 8K at 60Hz, 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz plus a second display up to 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 200Hz
Multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video
Video Concurrency
-
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW
Video Decode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW
Video Encode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed
Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration
Video Processing Unit
-
1400 MHz
GPU Max Dynamic Frequency
-
38
Graphics Core Count
20
-
Max Resolution
Up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 240Hz
Up to 4 external displays
Number of Displays Supported
-
Metal, OpenCL
GPU APIs
Metal
Up to 13.6 TFLOPS FP32
Graphics Performance
-
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW
Media Engine
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; AV1 decode
1
Video Decode Engines
1
2
Video Encode Engines
1
2
ProRes Encode/Decode Engines
1
Yes
OpenCL Support
OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.
-

AI Specifications

16-core Apple Neural Engine
AI Engine
Apple Neural Engine with Neural Accelerators in GPU cores
16
Neural Engine Core Count
16
Apple Neural Engine
NPU Name
16-core Neural Engine
15.8 TOPS
NPU Performance
-

Connectivity

Yes
Bluetooth Support
Supported
Bluetooth 5.3
Bluetooth Version
6
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Wi-Fi Standard
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)
-
Wireless System
Apple N1 wireless networking chip

Interfaces and Ports

Yes, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40 Gb/s
Thunderbolt Support
Thunderbolt 5
USB4
USB Version
USB 4 up to 120Gb/s
Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s
USB4 Support
Supported

Miscellaneous

Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust
Hardware-Verified Secure Boot
-
Apple image signal processor
Image Signal Processor
-
Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Fast Permission Restrictions
Runtime Anti-Exploitation
Memory Integrity Enforcement

Benchmarks

Cinebench R23 Single Core
Apple M2 Max
1695
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
2518 +49%
Cinebench R23 Multi Core
Apple M2 Max
14855
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
24888 +68%
Geekbench 6 Single Core
Apple M2 Max
2748
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
4295 +56%
Geekbench 6 Multi Core
Apple M2 Max
14754
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
28436 +93%
Geekbench 7 Single Core
Apple M2 Max
2506
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
3704 +48%
Geekbench 7 Multi Core
Apple M2 Max
16592
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
34279 +107%
Passmark CPU Single Core
Apple M2 Max
4140
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
5933 +43%
Passmark CPU Multi Core
Apple M2 Max
26868
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
57294 +113%
Cinebench 2024 Single Core
Apple M2 Max
121
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
201 +66%
Cinebench 2024 Multi Core
Apple M2 Max
1025
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
2347 +129%
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Apple M2 Max
5851
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
12948 +121%
Blender
Apple M2 Max
249 +84%
Apple M5 Pro 18 Cores
135