Apple has introduced the M5 Ultra, a new top-end chip that the company said pushes on-device AI compute to a new level. In an Aug. 25 newsroom announcement, Apple described the M5 Ultra as the most powerful chip it has released so far, with major gains in AI processing and graphics. The chip is available only in the new Mac Studio announced the same day.
First quad-die design in the M-series
The biggest architectural shift in the M5 Ultra is Apple’s first use of a quad-die design in the M-series. Apple said it links two M5 Max chips, each built as a dual-die part, into a single processor through its UltraFusion packaging technology. The company said the setup delivers more than 4.4TB/s of bandwidth between dies and lifts connection density by more than six times versus the prior generation, allowing the four dies to operate as one chip.
At the CPU level, the M5 Ultra scales up to 36 cores, consisting of 12 super cores and 24 performance cores. Apple said single-threaded performance is up to 1.25x higher than the M3 Ultra, while multi-threaded performance is up to 1.3x higher.
Up to 80 GPU cores with built-in Neural Accelerator
Graphics and AI are the main focus for this generation. The M5 Ultra can be configured with up to 80 GPU cores, and Apple said each core includes a Neural Accelerator for AI workloads. According to the company, peak AI GPU compute reaches as much as 4.5x that of the M3 Ultra and more than 6x that of the M1 Ultra. Graphics performance, Apple said, is up to 40% faster than the M3 Ultra.
The chip also carries a 32-core Neural Engine, supports up to 512GB of unified memory, and provides 1.2TB/s of memory bandwidth, which Apple said is 50% higher than the M3 Ultra. Apple positioned that memory capacity and neural acceleration combination for running large AI models and generative workloads locally.
Exclusive to the new Mac Studio
For now, the M5 Ultra is available only in the new Mac Studio. The Mac Studio configuration with M5 Ultra starts at $5,499, while the version with M5 Max starts at $2,499. Apple said preorders opened on Aug. 25 in 30 countries and regions, including the United States, and shipments will begin on Sept. 22.
Apple also introduced the M6 on the same day. The company said it is Apple’s first chip built on a 2-nanometer process, aimed at performance and power efficiency in mobile devices.
The original report was first published by ABMedia.