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M5 Ultra flexes its multicore muscle, but M6 packs a single-core surprise.
Image: Apple

The first Geekbench scores for the Apple processors inside the M6 Mac mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio surfaced online, giving us a glimpse of their expected performance when the new computers hit stores next week.

Based on the scores, it looks like Apple’s new high-end and entry-level Apple silicon chips will set new standards in their respective categories.

M5 Ultra should be Apple’s most powerful chip ever

The benchmarks tell an interesting story about where Apple’s Mac lineup is headed. The M5 Ultra is shaping up to be an absolute monster for workloads that can throw a lot of cores at a problem, but the more intriguing chip might be the humble M6.

Its leaked Geekbench scores show Apple’s next-generation mainstream silicon outrunning the M5 Ultra in single-core performance — a reminder that raw chip hierarchy isn’t as simple as “Ultra beats everything.” The early numbers offer a tantalizing preview of just how much faster Apple’s upcoming machines will be.

The M3 Ultra is currently Apple’s most powerful Mac chip. The M5 Ultra Mac Studio will take the crown when it launches later this month. Featuring updated CPU and GPU cores, it scores 3,774 and 52,516 in Geekbench 7’s single-core and multicore tests, respectively.

@VadimYuryev @lafaiel @MarcTechStream @midnight_john1 @jordanstonenz @ExoticSpice101 @anemll M5 Ultra Geekbench 7 scorehttps://t.co/s0ZWvEqlHg pic.twitter.com/zawKBAt45n

— 🦊 (@jimmyjames_tech) September 15, 2026

For comparison, the M5 Max scores 3,769 and 35,656 in the same tests. Those figures are also higher than any other Intel or AMD x86-based CPU.

Compared with the M3 Ultra, the M5 Ultra proves significantly faster in both tests. The former scores 2,920 and 39,059 in Geekbench 7.

Based on these scores, the M5 Ultra should deliver 30% faster single-core performance and 35% faster multicore performance than Apple’s last Ultra chip.

M6 chip is another big leap forward

Leaked Geekbench scores of the M6 chip inside the Mac mini show even more impressive performance gains. The new base Apple silicon chip for Mac (and eventually iPad) scores 4,071 and 22,783 in Geekbench 7’s single-core and multicore benchmarks, respectively.

@VadimYuryev @lafaiel @MarcTechStream @midnight_john1 @jordanstonenz @ExoticSpice101 @anemll M6 Geekbench 7 score https://t.co/QXNtV7VdgL pic.twitter.com/J69egJG0tg

— 🦊 (@jimmyjames_tech) September 15, 2026

For comparison, M5-equipped Macs score around 3,600 and 17,900 in the same tests. That makes the M6 about 12% faster in single-core and 26% faster in multicore workloads.

As you can see from the benchmarks, the M6 beats the M5 Ultra on single-core performance. That’s because it uses a newer CPU core architecture, enabling it to deliver better single-threaded performance.

The M6’s multicore performance is better than the M2 Max and in line with the M1 Ultra. That’s impressive given that the M6 features a 12-core CPU versus a 20-core CPU on the M1 Ultra.

Apple’s M6 Mac mini and Mac Studio models equipped with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips hit stores on September 22. We should get an even better idea of their performance improvements then.