While the new M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros won’t be out until March 11, early benchmark results are already making waves. An 18-core M5 Max chip recently showed up on Geekbench, boasting a single-core score of 4,268 and a multi-core score of 29,233.
Now, before you get too excited, it’s important to know that benchmarks for unreleased devices are not always reliable. However, if these numbers hold true, we could be looking at a performance boost of about 9% for single-core tasks and 13.7% for multi-core tasks, compared to the previous 16-core M4 Max chip from 2024.
For more context, the M5 Max seems to outpace the 14-core M4 Max in the 2025 Mac Studio, which scored lower at 4,015 for single-core and 23,560 for multi-core tasks. If confirmed, this performance may place the M5 Max at the top of Geekbench’s Mac Benchmarks.
Interestingly, the M5 Max also scored impressively on the Metal benchmark with a score of 232,718, ranking it second behind the 32-core CPU and 80-core GPU of the M3 Ultra in the 2025 Mac Studio.
In a related note, benchmarks for the A18 chip in the new MacBook Neo have surfaced as well. It scored 3,461 for single-core and 8,668 for multi-core tasks, marking a slight improvement over the A18 silicon found in the iPhone 16 Pro.
These results raise questions about how Apple’s new chips will influence user experiences. Many tech enthusiasts and professionals on platforms like Twitter express excitement about the potential for improved performance in creative and demanding applications.
As Apple’s chips continue to evolve, keeping an eye on user feedback will be essential. We might see these benchmarks change as more users test the devices post-launch. For now, these early scores serve as an intriguing glimpse into what the future may hold for MacBook performance.
For more details on benchmark scores and Mac performance, check out Geekbench’s official rankings here.
