GoKawiilWhen Apple announced the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips this month, it also revealed a new breakdown of core types: efficiency, performance, and super. In a new interview this week, Apple is shedding more light on the motivation for these changes and what each core is designed to handle.
The new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips
As a refresher, there are three different core types in the M5 generation of chip:
M5: Efficiency cores and super cores
M5 Pro and M5 Max: Performance cores and super cores
The “super cores” are Apple’s most powerful CPU cores. These were previously called “performance cores,” but Apple renamed them in conjunction with the introduction of the new “performance cores.”
The new performance cores are now the middle-tier in the M5 chip architecture, offering a balance of power efficiency and multi-threaded performance. The performance core architecture is what’s new with M5 Pro and M5 Max.
In an interview with German publication Mac & i, Apple talked more about the M5 generation of chips.
Anand Shimpi, who works on Apple hardware technologies, offered an explanation of the three aforementioned M5 core types:
“The super core is the fastest CPU core in the world. It is optimized for single-core performance. The efficiency core is our CPU core with the highest efficiency.” Although the latter does not achieve the same single-clock performance as a Super Core, it does lower the power consumption for background tasks.
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