Apple just announced the new Mac Studio with M5 Ultra — and it will be a local AI powerhouse

Apple unveiled a new Mac Studio featuring the M5 Ultra chip, emphasizing local AI capabilities and heavy professional workloads. The compact desktop maintains its familiar design but introduces enhanced connectivity, including Thunderbolt 5 ports for up to 120Gb/s speeds, enabling external storage, PCIe expansion, and high-performance hubs.

The Apple N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and genlock support over USB-C for synchronized display and camera operations. Memory bandwidth has been boosted up to 1.2TB/s, and the GPU has been upgraded to deliver up to 1.8x faster graphics compared to the previous generation. The M5 Ultra chip, positioned as the top-tier model, boasts up to 4.3x faster AI performance and up to 1.8x faster graphics, along with up to 2x faster storage compared to the previous generation.

Pre-orders for the Mac Studio with M5 Ultra start today, with expected delivery on September 22. Pricing starts at $5,499 (or $5,099 for education), with configure-to-order options available on Apple's website.