By John Gruber
Mux — Video API for developers. Build in one sprint or less.
The Just Plain M5 Chip Launches in Three Updated Products: 14-Inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro (Both Sizes), and Some Sort of Headset Thingamajig Called Vision Pro
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Apple today announced M5, delivering the next big leap in AI performance and advances to nearly every aspect of the chip. Built using third-generation 3-nanometer technology, M5 introduces a next-generation 10-core GPU architecture with a Neural Accelerator in each core, enabling GPU-based AI workloads to run dramatically faster, with over 4× the peak GPU compute performance compared to M4. The GPU also offers enhanced graphics capabilities and third-generation ray tracing that combined deliver a graphics performance that is up to 45 percent higher than M4. M5 features the world’s fastest performance core, with up to a 10-core CPU made up of six efficiency cores and up to four performance cores. Together, they deliver up to 15 percent faster multithreaded performance over M4. M5 also features an improved 16-core Neural Engine, a powerful media engine, and a nearly 30 percent increase in unified memory bandwidth to 153GB/s. M5 brings its industry-leading power-efficient performance to the new 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Apple Vision Pro, allowing each device to excel in its own way. All are available for pre-order today.
Some thoughts and observations:
14-Inch MacBook Pro
Apple Newsroom: “Apple Unveils New 14‑Inch MacBook Pro Powered by the M5 Chip, Delivering the Next Big Leap in AI for the Mac”.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the no-adjective M-series chip has always been an odd duck in the MacBook lineup. This “Pro”-but-not-pro spot in the MacBook lineup goes back to the Intel era, when there was a 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar. That was the MacBook Pro that, in 2016, Phil Schiller suggested as a good choice for those who were then holding out for a MacBook Air with a retina display. (The first retina MacBook Air didn’t ship for another two years, in late 2018.) It’s more like a MacBook “Pro” than a MacBook Pro. The truly pro-spec’d MacBook Pros have M-series Pro and Max chips, and are available in both 14- and 16-inch sizes. The base 14-inch model, with the no-adjective M-series chip, is for people who probably would be better served with a MacBook Air but who wrongly believe they “need” a laptop with “Pro” in its name.
Here’s a timeline of no-adjective M-series chips and when they appeared in the 14-inch MacBook Pro:
M1 13-inch MacBook Pro: 10 November 2020. This MacBook Pro was one of the three Macs that debuted with the launch of Apple Silicon — the others were the MacBook Air and Mac Mini. The hardware looked exactly like the last generation Intel MacBook Pro. The M1 Pro and M1 Max models didn’t ship for another year (well, 11 months later), and those models brought with them the new form factor design that’s still with us today with the new M5 MacBook Pro.
M2 13-inch MacBook Pro: 6 June 2022. This model also stuck with the older Intel-era form factor, including the 13-inch, not 14-inch, display size.
M3 14-inch MacBook Pro: 30 October 2023. The “Scary Fast” event. This model debuted alongside the pro-spec’d M3 Pro and M3 Max 14- and 16-inch models.
M4 14-inch MacBook Pro: 30 October 2024. Exactly one year after the M3, and also alongside the M4 Pro and M4 Max models. What was different in 2024 with the M4 generation is that the M4 iPad Pros debuted back in early May, all by themselves.
M5 14-inch MacBook Pro: 15 October 2025 (today). What’s different with today’s announcement is that it is not alongside the M5 Pro and M5 Max models, but is alongside the M5 iPad Pros.
This raises the question of when to expect those M5 Pro/Max models. The rumor mill suggests “early 2026”. I suspect that’s right, based on nothing other than the fact that if they were going to be announced this year, Apple almost certainly would have announced the entire M5 generation MacBook lineup together.
Basically, this is just a speed bump upgrade over the just-plain M4 MacBook Pro. But annual — or at least regular — speed bumps are a good thing. The alternative is years-long gaps between hardware refreshes.
iPad Pros
Apple Newsroom: “Apple Introduces the Powerful New iPad Pro With the M5 Chip”:
Featuring a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core, M5 delivers a big boost in performance for iPad Pro users, whether they’re working on cutting-edge projects or tapping into AI for productivity. The new iPad Pro delivers up to 3.5× the AI performance than iPad Pro with M4 and up to 5.6× faster than iPad Pro with M1. N1, the new Apple-designed wireless networking chip, enables the latest generation of wireless technologies with support for Wi-Fi 7 on iPad Pro. The C1X modem comes to cellular models of iPad Pro, delivering up to 50 percent faster cellular data performance than its predecessor with even greater efficiency, allowing users to do more on the go.
I think the N1 wireless chip and C1X modem are more interesting generation-over-generation improvements than the M5 chip. Thanks to the N1, these iPad Pro models support Wi-Fi 7 — today’s new M5 14-inch MacBook Pro does not. I would wager rather heavily that the upcoming M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models will support Wi-Fi 7 (probably via the N1 chip, or perhaps even an “N1X” or something).
Other than that, this too is a speed bump upgrade.
Vision Pro
Apple Newsroom: “Apple Vision Pro Upgraded With the M5 Chip and Dual Knit Band”:
The upgraded Vision Pro also comes with the soft, cushioned Dual Knit Band to help users achieve an even more comfortable fit, and visionOS 26, which unlocks innovative spatial experiences, including widgets, new Personas, an interactive Jupiter Environment, and new Apple Intelligence features with support for additional languages.
The new Dual Knit Band ($99 on its own) looks like a hybrid of the more attractive Solo Knit Band (which did not have a strap that went over the top of your head) and the Dual Loop Band (which did have an over-the-head strap, but which looked somewhat orthopedic). It’s a tacit acknowledgement that physical comfort has been a real problem for many people who’ve tried Vision Pro. (Me, personally, I find using it with the Solo Knit Band comfortable for as long as I care to use it — which is typically just 2–3 hours, tops.)
There are over 1 million apps and thousands of games on the App Store, hundreds of 3D movies on the Apple TV app, and all-new series and films in Apple Immersive with a selection of live NBA games coming soon.
Translation: Hey, there’s actually a growing library of immersive content to watch, software to use, and games to play for this thing now.
With M5, Apple Vision Pro renders 10 percent more pixels on the custom micro-OLED displays compared to the previous generation, resulting in a sharper image with crisper text and more detailed visuals. Vision Pro can also increase the refresh rate up to 120Hz for reduced motion blur when users look at their physical surroundings, and an even smoother experience when using Mac Virtual Display. Vision Pro with M5 works alongside the purpose-built R1 chip, which processes input from 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones, and streams new images to the displays within 12 milliseconds to create a real-time view of the world. The high-performance battery now supports up to two and a half hours of general use, and up to three hours of video playback, all on a single charge.
It’s merely another speed bump upgrade alongside the other two speed bump upgrades today, but a bit more dramatic given that the Vision Pro is jumping from the M2 to M5. No price drop, no change to the form factor. But Apple’s interest in the platform is very much alive.