Apple continues its impressive trajectory in chip development with the introduction of its new M5 chip, which reportedly achieves nearly twice the single-thread performance of its predecessor, the M1.

Leaked benchmarks indicate that the M5 showcases a performance leap, suggesting gains of around 10% to 15% over the already robust M4 model, which had set a high benchmark.

In comparison to PC counterparts, where chips often release with more significant gaps between generations, Apple has managed to refresh its silicon more frequently, which has led to substantial performance advancements.

In practical terms, this translates to the new M5 achieving around 4,100 points in Geekbench 6 single-thread tests, which is a marked improvement over the original M1’s score of approximately 2,200 points. Similar comparisons with AMD’s Ryzen counterparts indicate that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D falls short with a score of around 3,400.

Despite reservations about the generational gains being normal for the industry, the rapid iteration by Apple prompts a focus on how long competitors like AMD and Intel may lag in achieving similar performance boosts. With this continued progress, Apple raises the bar in the single-thread performance category—a landscape where it seems to outpace its rivals.