Early performance numbers for Apple’s new M5 Max are starting to surface, and they point to a major leap for Apple Silicon—especially for anyone shopping for the fastest MacBook Pro-style laptop performance.
A leaked Geekbench 6 result shows the 18-core Apple M5 Max delivering about 4,260 points in single-core performance and an eye-catching 29,233 points in multi-core. Those figures put it in rare air for a mobile chip, and they also show a big gap between Apple’s standard M5 and the Max-tier model. For context, the base M5 configuration seen in current MacBook Pro testing tends to land around the same single-core level, but much lower in multi-core results at roughly 17,100 points—exactly what you’d expect when you move from a mainstream chip to a high-end, many-core workstation-class SoC.
Compared to the previous generation M4 Max, the M5 Max appears to gain roughly 9% in single-core and about 14% in multi-core, suggesting Apple didn’t just add cores—it also improved throughput and overall efficiency. Even more notable, this benchmark places the M5 Max slightly ahead of the higher-end M3 Ultra result, with a lead of around 5.4% in Geekbench 6. In other words, Apple’s newest Max chip is shaping up to be the fastest CPU the company has produced so far, at least by this metric.
The leaked numbers also paint a dramatic picture when lined up against flagship laptop chips from the x86 world. In Geekbench 6 multi-core scoring, the M5 Max reportedly outpaces Intel’s Core Ultra 9 275HX by around 34% and stays ahead of AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ 395 by about 25%. That’s an attention-grabbing spread for a benchmark commonly used to compare CPU performance across platforms, and it reinforces the direction Apple has been moving for years: extremely strong performance in a power-conscious package.
What really turns heads is how the M5 Max allegedly compares even to several desktop-class processors in the same benchmark. The data suggests it leads chips like Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K and AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X by roughly 23% in Geekbench 6. It even edges out AMD’s 64-core Threadripper 9980X by about 6.6%, which is particularly striking on paper given the core-count difference.
Of course, it’s worth keeping expectations grounded. A single Geekbench run—even if accurate—doesn’t automatically predict how a chip will behave in sustained heavy workloads like long video renders, complex code compiles, 3D production, scientific simulations, or AI pipelines. Cooling design, power limits, software optimization, and workload type can all shift the real-world story. Still, these early M5 Max Geekbench 6 scores strongly suggest Apple’s latest silicon generation will be among the fastest options available for creators and power users who want top-tier laptop performance.
