Apple's M5 Ultra is its most powerful chip ever - with 4x faster AI performance than M3 Ultra

Apple has unveiled its latest Mac Mini and Mac Studio models, featuring the M6, M5 Max, and M5 Ultra chips. The M5 Ultra stands out as the most powerful chip Apple has ever produced. Priced starting at $899 for the Mac Mini M6, these new configurations mark a significant leap forward in computing power.

The M5 Ultra boasts an 80-core GPU and up to a 36-core CPU, with up to 512GB of unified memory. This represents a fourfold improvement in LLM prompt processing compared to the M3 Ultra. Notably, it also supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 technologies, as well as up to six Thunderbolt 5 ports, enabling transfer speeds of up to 120Gb/s. This high bandwidth capacity allows the M5 Ultra to power up to eight external displays or four Studio Display XDR displays at 5K resolution and 120Hz refresh.

In terms of connectivity, the M5 Ultra's quad-die architecture fuses two M5 Max chips together, making these the most powerful Mac computers in Apple's catalog. The base models for both the Mac Mini and Mac Studio are priced $100 higher, resulting in the Mac Mini at $899 and the Mac Studio at $2,499 for the M5 Max. The high-end M5 Ultra configuration with 96GB of unified memory starts at $5,499.

These announcements come as Apple typically releases Mac Mini and Studio refreshes in October. However, this year, Apple appears to be streamlining its launch plans, potentially aiming to differentiate product offerings and allocate more expensive processor components to specific devices ahead of time. The Mac Mini M6 and M5 Pro, along with the Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, are now available for preorder starting August 25, with shipping set to begin on September 22.