Apple M5 10 Cores
vs
Apple M2 Ultra

vs

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M5 10 Cores and Apple M2 Ultra processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

  • Higher Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency: 4.61 GHz (4.61 GHz vs 3.50 GHz)
  • Higher Technology: Third-generation 3 nm (Third-generation 3 nm vs 5 nm)
  • Newer Launch Date: October 2025 (October 2025 vs June 2023)
  • More Total Cores: 24 (10 vs 24)

Basic

Apple
Label Name
Apple
October 2025
Launch Date
June 2023
Laptop
Platform
Desktop
Apple custom ARM architecture
CPU Architecture
Apple Avalanche + Apple Blizzard
Apple M5
CPU Name
Apple M2 Ultra
Apple M5 10-Core
Model Name
Apple M2 Ultra
TSMC N3P
Foundry
TSMC
M5
Generation
Apple M2 series

CPU Specifications

-
Interconnect Bandwidth
Over 2.5 TB/s
-
Interconnect Technology
UltraFusion
10
Total Cores
Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).
24
10
Total Threads
24
4
Performance-cores
16
6
Efficient-cores
8
4.61 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency
-
3.05 GHz
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency
2.42 GHz
-
Instruction Set Extensions
NEON
4.61 GHz
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency
3.50 GHz
-
Extended Instruction Set
Armv8.5-A, NEON
-
L1 Cache
P-cores: 192 KB instruction + 128 KB data per core; E-cores: 128 KB instruction + 64 KB data per core
-
L2 Cache
P-core clusters: 72 MB total; E-core clusters: 8 MB total
-
L3 Cache
96 MB system level cache
Third-generation 3 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.
5 nm
-
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.
Armv8.5-A
-
Transistor Count
134 billion

Memory Specifications

-
Memory Bus Width
1024-bit
LPDDR5X unified memory
Memory Type
Unified LPDDR5-6400
-
LPDDR5 Speed
LPDDR5-6400
32 GB
Max Memory Size
Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.
192 GB
-
Memory Channels
The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.
8
153 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).
800 GB/s
9600 MT/s
Maximum Memory Speed
6400 MT/s

GPU Specifications

Thunderbolt / DisplayPort over USB-C; HDMI
External Display Standard
Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1
Apple M5 10-core GPU
GPU Name
Apple M2 Ultra GPU
Supported
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
-
Up to two external displays: two 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 144Hz; or one 8K at 60Hz, 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz
Max External Display Resolution
Up to eight 4K 60Hz displays, six 6K 60Hz displays, or three 8K 60Hz displays; HDMI up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz
-
Video Concurrency
Up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed
Video Decode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed
Video Encode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW
-
Video Processing Unit
Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration
-
GPU Max Dynamic Frequency
1400 MHz
-
Graphics Base Frequency
Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.
450 MHz
10
Graphics Core Count
76
Up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 240Hz
Max Resolution
-
-
Number of Displays Supported
Up to 8 displays
Metal
GPU APIs
Metal, OpenCL
-
Graphics Performance
Up to 26.98 TFLOPS FP32
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; AV1 decode
Media Engine
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW
1
Video Decode Engines
2
1
Video Encode Engines
4
1
ProRes Encode/Decode Engines
4
-
OpenCL Support
OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.
Yes

AI Specifications

Apple Neural Engine with Neural Accelerators in GPU cores
AI Engine
32-core Apple Neural Engine
16
Neural Engine Core Count
32
16-core Neural Engine
NPU Name
Apple Neural Engine
-
NPU Performance
31.6 TOPS

Connectivity

Supported
Bluetooth Support
Yes
-
Bluetooth Version
Bluetooth 5.3
-
Wi-Fi Standard
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)

Interfaces and Ports

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

Miscellaneous

-
Hardware-Verified Secure Boot
Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust
-
Runtime Anti-Exploitation
Hardware-verified secure boot and runtime anti-exploitation technologies

Benchmarks

Cinebench R23 Single Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
2459 +45%
Apple M2 Ultra
1695
Cinebench R23 Multi Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
15893
Apple M2 Ultra
28570 +80%
Geekbench 6 Single Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
4228 +52%
Apple M2 Ultra
2776
Geekbench 6 Multi Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
17314
Apple M2 Ultra
21430 +24%
Geekbench 5 Single Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
2974 +53%
Apple M2 Ultra
1940
Geekbench 5 Multi Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
15736
Apple M2 Ultra
27860 +77%
Geekbench 7 Single Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
3703 +43%
Apple M2 Ultra
2589
Geekbench 7 Multi Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
18638
Apple M2 Ultra
28713 +54%
Passmark CPU Single Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
5749 +37%
Apple M2 Ultra
4208
Passmark CPU Multi Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
26996
Apple M2 Ultra
50932 +89%
Cinebench 2024 Single Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
200 +59%
Apple M2 Ultra
126
Cinebench 2024 Multi Core
Apple M5 10 Cores
1030
Apple M2 Ultra
1918 +86%
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Apple M5 10 Cores
6139
Apple M2 Ultra
8668 +41%
Blender
Apple M5 10 Cores
377
Apple M2 Ultra
502 +33%