March 2026: the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros
Apple's spring update was about speed for AI work and doubled starting storage. The same chips later went into its first touchscreen Macs.
Kivorent News desk, published , 1 min read
This is a look back at an event from . We wrote it on November 11, 2026, from the sources listed at the end.
What to know
- Apple announced MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips on March 3, 2026. They went on sale March 11.
- Prices started at $2,199 for the 14-inch and $2,699 for the 16-inch.
- Apple claimed up to four times faster AI prompt processing than the previous generation.
Apple updated its professional laptops on March 3, 2026, moving the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro to the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The design did not change. The pitch was performance, and specifically performance on AI tasks run on the machine itself.
Prices at launch
| Model | Chip | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 14-inch | M5 Pro | $2,199 |
| 16-inch | M5 Pro | $2,699 |
| 14-inch | M5 Max | $3,599 |
| 16-inch | M5 Max | $3,899 |
What Apple claimed
These figures are from Apple's own testing, as stated in its announcement:
- Up to 4 times faster processing of AI prompts than the M4 Pro and M4 Max models.
- Up to 30% faster processor performance than the M4 Pro generation.
- Up to 50% higher graphics performance.
- Storage read and write speeds up to twice as fast.
The practical changes
- More storage to start. M5 Pro models began at 1TB and M5 Max models at 2TB.
- Memory. Up to 64GB on M5 Pro and 128GB on M5 Max. Memory is what limits the size of AI model a laptop can run locally.
- Wireless. A new Apple-designed chip added Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
- Battery. Up to 24 hours, by Apple's measure.
How it reads now
These are the chips inside the touchscreen MacBook Pro that went on sale in November 2026. Comparing the two price lists shows what the new screen costs. The starting price for a 14-inch M5 Pro model went from $2,199 in March to $2,899 with OLED and touch. BGR put the premium for touch at $400 over the matching non-touch model, which suggests the two starting configurations are not identical.
For why memory matters so much for running models on your own machine, see on-device AI versus cloud AI.
Sources
- Apple introduces MacBook Pro with all-new M5 Pro and M5 Max, Apple Newsroom, March 3, 2026
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