Today, the yet-to-be-announced M5 iPad Pro from Apple appears to have been leaked by the same YouTuber who revealed the M4 MacBook Pro last year. This unexpected disclosure provides us with benchmarks for Apple’s upcoming M5 chip, showcasing considerable enhancements in a crucial area.
### M5 Chip Might Provide Significant GPU Improvements Over M4
Each year, when Apple reveals its new iPhone chip, we gain insights into what to anticipate from the M-class chips in the same lineage. The A19 Pro found in the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air signifies a substantial update in CPU performance year-over-year, with notable excellence in GPU capabilities, primarily due to the incorporation of Neural Accelerators.
Apple’s Tim Millet, VP of Platform Architecture, recently discussed the benefits of this technology:
> “Our GPU allows us to implement neural processing across applications that have traditionally been more graphics-intensive. For instance, gaming applications. Leveraging AI to enhance imaging quality, as well as improving the efficiency of certain image rendering tasks.”
Considering that the upcoming M5 chip is based on the same fundamental architecture as the A19 Pro, it is not surprising that the leaked M5 benchmarks exhibit comparable GPU strengths in Geekbench evaluations.
When assessing the M5 against last year’s standard M4 chip, the new chip showcased the following CPU improvements:
– **Single-core:** around 10-12%
– **Multi-core:** around 15%
While these numbers are commendable, they are not extraordinarily groundbreaking. Nevertheless, the GPU enhancements are significant, with improvements reaching up to approximately **35%**.
This increase does not ensure a consistent 35% uplift across all GPU applications, but it implies that the M5 will offer notable improvements, particularly in gaming performance when compared to the M4.
These advancements are anticipated to benefit not just the new iPad Pro, but also the forthcoming M5 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models.
Another important detail from the benchmarks suggests that the leaked M5 iPad Pro is a 256GB version with 12GB of RAM, an upgrade from the 8GB found in last year’s equivalent M4. It is probable that Apple will feature 16GB or more in its higher storage options, akin to the approach taken with the more expensive M4 models last year.
What are your thoughts regarding the performance of the leaked M5 chip? Share your opinions in the comments.
