First Apple M5 benchmark shows a huge 34% jump in GPU performance

The first performance figures for Apple's next-generation M5 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) have emerged, indicating a significant emphasis on graphics performance for the upcoming generation. The leak originates from a Russian YouTuber who had previously accurately previewed last year's M4 MacBook Pro, lending credibility to the numbers.

According to benchmarks shared by Wylsacom (via MacRumours), the M5 chip inside the iPad Pro he tested has 9 CPU cores, of which three are P-cores and six are E-cores. Moving on to performance figures, the new GPU delivers a performance increase of up to 34% compared to the M4-powered model (55,702 vs 74,568).

In contrast, the CPU gains appear to be more modest and in line with a standard generational uplift. The YouTuber's data suggests a single-core performance improvement of around 10%, with overall multi-core performance seeing a respectable bump of approximately 16% over the M4. The leaked iPad Pro was a 256GB model running iPadOS 26 and featuring 12GB of RAM, an increase from the 8GB found in the M4 model.

While these results are from a thermally constrained iPad, they are quite promising for the eventual M5-powered MacBooks that are expected to follow. With the superior cooling capacity of the MacBook Air and the actively cooled MacBook Pro, we can expect the M5 to deliver even more sustained performance when it arrives in those machines.

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KitGuru says: Were you expecting this uplift in GPU performance from the M4 to the M5?

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