Apple has kicked off its second day of early 2026 product releases with two new chips, new MacBook Pros, and a new Liquid Retina XDR display. But starting things off, let’s discuss the latest additions to the powerful Apple Silicon family: the M5 Pro and the M5 Max.
The M5 Pro and M5 Max increase the maximum CPU core count to 18 (up from 14), but with a twist. Apple says that it’s now using six of its most performant cores ever, which it dubs “super cores.” 12 all-new performance cores join these super cores to handle sustained multitasking workloads. Together, Apple says that the new CPU core can deliver up to a 30 percent uplift in multi-threaded performance compared to M4 Pro and M4 Max.
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When it comes ot graphics, the M5 Pro now features 20 GPU cores, which the M5 Max features up to 40 cores. Each GPU core contains a neural accelerator, and, combined with higher memory bandwidth, Apple claims up to a 35 percent performance boost in ray-tracing apps compared to the M4 Pro and M4 Max. Other notable features include a 16-core neural engine on both chips and support for Thunderbolt 5.
The new M5 Pro and M5 Max are found in Apple’s refreshed MacBook Pros, which are still available in 14-inch and 16-inch form factors. According to Apple, users will see up to a 4x improvement in AI performance compared to the previous generation, and up to an 8x uplift compared to first-generation Apple Silicon.
If that wasn’t enough, Apple has also enhanced the storage subsystem, delivering double the performance for the onboard SSDs (up to 14.5 GBps). In addition, M5 Pro systems will now come with 1GB of base storage, while M5 Max systems will start at 2TB. Apple has stuck with Wi-Fi 6E across several generations of MacBook Pro refreshes, but now it’s using its in-house N1 networking chip, which combines Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
Other features include a 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View support, a Liquid Retina XDR display (1600 nits peak HDR brightness) that still includes a nano-texture option, and up to 24 hours of battery life.
The new 14- and 16-inch MacBooks will be available for pre-order starting tomorrow, March 4th. However, there are some price hikes to accompany the increased performance and base storage. The 14-inch MacBook Pro now starts at $2,199 (up from $1,999) with the M5 Pro, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro now starts at $2,699 (up from $2,499). If you want to step into the M5 Max versions of those systems, you’re looking at $3,599 and $3,899, respectively.
