Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
vs
Apple M2

vs

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores and Apple M2 processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

  • More Total Cores: 15 (15 vs 8)
  • Higher Technology: Third-generation 3 nm (Third-generation 3 nm vs 5 nm)
  • Newer Launch Date: March 2026 (March 2026 vs June 2022)

Basic

Apple
Label Name
Apple
March 2026
Launch Date
June 2022
Laptop
Platform
Laptop
Apple custom ARM architecture
CPU Architecture
Apple Avalanche + Apple Blizzard
Apple M5 Pro
CPU Name
Apple M2
Apple M5 Pro 15-Core
Model Name
Apple M2
TSMC N3P
Foundry
TSMC
M5 Pro
Generation
Apple M2 series

CPU Specifications

Apple Fusion Architecture
Interconnect Technology
-
4.38 GHz
Performance-core Multi-Core Max Frequency
-
4.61 GHz
Super-core Max Frequency
-
15
Total Cores
Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).
8
15
Total Threads
8
10
Performance-cores
4
-
Efficient-cores
4
5
Super-cores
-
-
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency
2.42 GHz
-
Instruction Set Extensions
NEON
-
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency
3.48 GHz
-
Extended Instruction Set
ARMv8.6-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 cluster: 16 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB
-
L3 Cache
8 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.
ARMv8.6-A
-
Transistor Count
20 billion

Memory Specifications

-
Memory Bus Width
128-bit
LPDDR5X unified memory
Memory Type
Unified LPDDR5-6400
-
LPDDR5 Speed
LPDDR5-6400
48 GB
Max Memory Size
Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.
24 GB
307 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).
100 GB/s
9600 MT/s
Maximum Memory Speed
6400 MT/s

GPU Specifications

Thunderbolt / DisplayPort 2.1 over USB-C; HDMI
External Display Standard
Thunderbolt 3 / USB4 with DisplayPort
Apple M5 Pro 16-core GPU
GPU Name
Apple M2 GPU
Supported
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
-
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
Max External Display Resolution
Up to 6K 60Hz external display
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed
Video Decode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; up to 8K H.264 and HEVC decode; multiple 4K and 8K ProRes streams
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed
Video Encode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; up to 8K H.264 and HEVC decode
-
Video Processing Unit
Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration
-
GPU Max Dynamic Frequency
1398 MHz
16
Graphics Core Count
10
Up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 240Hz
Max Resolution
-
-
Number of Displays Supported
One external display up to 6K 60Hz
Metal
GPU APIs
Metal, OpenCL
-
Graphics Performance
Up to 3.6 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
1
1
Video Encode Engines
1
1
ProRes Encode/Decode Engines
1
-
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
16-core Apple Neural Engine
16
Neural Engine Core Count
16
16-core Neural Engine
NPU Name
Apple Neural Engine
-
NPU Performance
15.8 TOPS

Connectivity

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

Interfaces and Ports

Thunderbolt 5
Thunderbolt Support
Yes, Thunderbolt 3 up to 40 Gb/s
USB 4 up to 120Gb/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
-
Image Signal Processor
Apple image signal processor
Memory Integrity Enforcement
Runtime Anti-Exploitation
Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Fast Permission Restrictions

Benchmarks

Cinebench R23 Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
2620 +64%
Apple M2
1595
Cinebench R23 Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
22139 +156%
Apple M2
8654
Geekbench 6 Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
4254 +64%
Apple M2
2597
Geekbench 6 Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
25906 +167%
Apple M2
9707
Geekbench 7 Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
3730 +56%
Apple M2
2385
Geekbench 7 Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
30324 +183%
Apple M2
10701
Passmark CPU Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
5926 +53%
Apple M2
3885
Passmark CPU Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
49157 +214%
Apple M2
15654
Cinebench 2024 Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
208 +73%
Apple M2
120
Cinebench 2024 Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
1982 +257%
Apple M2
555