Apple M6 (12-Core) vs M5 Ultra (30-Core)

We compared two CPUs: the 4790 GHz Apple M6 (12-Core) (laptop) with 12-cores against the 4.61 GHz M5 Ultra (30-Core) (desktop) with 30-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

Please note that the tests on the Apple M5 Ultra (30-Core) are done on an engineering sample provided by our insiders. The data will be more accurate after the final version of this CPU is available.

Key Differences

What are the key differences between (30-Core) and (12-Core)
Advantages of Apple M6 (12-Core)
  • More modern manufacturing process – 2 versus 3 nanometers
Advantages of Apple M5 Ultra (30-Core)
  • Supports up to 512 GB LPDDR5X-9600 RAM
  • Around 1058.8 GB/s (623%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More powerful Apple M5 Ultra GPU (64-core) integrated graphics: 26.5 vs 4.9 TFLOPS
  • Has 18 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (#91st place)

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)
20676
37003
Sources: GeekBench [1]

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M6 (12-Core) and M5 Ultra (30-Core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released August 25, 2026 August 25, 2026
Type Laptop Desktop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv9
Codename Apple M6 Apple M5
Model number T8152 -
Integrated GPU Apple M6 GPU (12-core) Apple M5 Ultra GPU (64-core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 20
P-Threads 6 20
Base Frequency (P) 4790 GHz 4.61 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 6 10
E-Threads 6 10
Base Frequency (E) - 4.38 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 30
Total Threads 12 30
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 47x 46x
L1 Cache 256K (per core) 192K (per core)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Fabrication Process 2 nm 3 nm
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature - 100°C

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M6 GPU (12-core) Apple M5 Ultra GPU (64-core)
GPU Base Clock - 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1600 MHz 1620 MHz
Shading Units 1536 8192
TMUs 96 640
ROPs 80 320
Execution Units 192 1024
iGPU FLOPS
4.9 TFLOPS
26.5 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-10667 - LPDDR5X-9600
Max. Memory Size 32 GB 512 GB
Memory Channels 8 64
Max. Memory Bandwidth 170 GB/s 1228.8 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M5 Ultra (30-Core) or M6 (12-Core)?
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