Home > CPU Comparison > M5 Pro (18-Core) or M5 Pro (15-Core): what's better?

Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Pro (15-Core)

96 out of 100
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
VS
94 out of 100
Apple M5 Pro (15-Core)
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
Apple M5 Pro (15-Core)

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) with 18-cores against the 4.61 GHz Pro (15-Core) with 15-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
🔌 Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between (15-Core) and (18-Core)
Advantages of Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
  • More powerful Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) integrated graphics: 8.3 vs 6.6 TFLOPS
  • Has 3 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M5 Pro (18-Core)
vs
M5 Pro (15-Core)

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 720
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 9144 7161
Cinebench Scores (28th and 39th place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
File compression 2530 MB/sec 2370 MB/sec
Clang compilation 262.5 Klines/sec 222.4 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 738.1 pages/sec 672.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 744.9 Mpixels/sec 667.2 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 450.7 pages/sec 436.8 pages/sec
Background blur 100.3 images/sec 98.7 images/sec
Photo processing 250.8 images/sec 238.6 images/sec
Ray tracing 46.5 Mpixels/sec 39.7 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2]

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math 132.7 GOps/sec 109.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 186.8 GOps/sec 154.6 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 486M Primes/sec 460M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 85.6M Strings/sec 70.6M Strings/sec
Data encryption 40.8 GBytes/sec 33.8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 697.9 MBytes/sec 581.1 MBytes/sec
Physics 5687 Frames/sec 5367 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 33.3B Matrices/sec 27.6B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 138 & 94 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 27.1 PPW 29.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 395.4 PPW 417.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 792.3 PPW 785.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 7.41 PPW -
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
No benchmark results yet
Add
Apple M5 Pro (15-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-05-09 (loltoast)GeekBench4309 / 26914
📘 2026-03-30 (JSK)GeekBench4287 / 26529
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) and Pro (15-Core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released March 3, 2026 March 3, 2026
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv9
Codename Apple M5 Apple M5
Model number T6050 T6050
Integrated GPU Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) Apple M5 Pro GPU (16-core)
Rival Equivalent - Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) -

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 18 15
P-Threads 18 15
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 4.61 GHz
Total
Total Cores 18 15
Total Threads 18 15
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 46x 46x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 32MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 28 billions 28 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 72 W 62 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Die Size 166.85 mm² 166.85 mm²
Laptop processors ranking (3rd and 4th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) Apple M5 Pro GPU (16-core)
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1620 MHz
Shading Units 2560 2048
TMUs 160 128
ROPs 80 64
Execution Units 320 256
TGP 28 W -
iGPU FLOPS
M5 Pro (18-Core) +26%
8.3 TFLOPS
M5 Pro (15-Core)
6.6 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M5 Pro GPU (16-core) compared to Pro GPU (20-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - LPDDR5X-9600
Max. Memory Size 64 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 16 16
Max. Memory Bandwidth 307.2 GB/s 307.2 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
38 (33.3%)
76 (66.7%)
Total votes: 114

Competitors

1. Apple M5 Pro (15-Core) vs Apple M6 (12-Core) (1)
2. Apple M5 Pro (15-Core) vs Intel Core Ultra X7 358H
3. Apple M5 Pro (15-Core) vs Apple M1 Max
4. Apple M5 Pro (15-Core) vs Apple M2 Pro
5. Apple M5 Pro (15-Core) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100)
6. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M1 Pro
7. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M2 Pro
8. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (1)
9. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M1 Max
10. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M5 Pro (15-Core) or Pro (18-Core)?
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