Apple MacBook Pro M5 Max performance drops following macOS update

Following the release of macOS 26.6.2, owners of the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Max chip have reported performance decreases during sustained workloads. Benchmarks conducted by Notebookcheck confirmed that in the “Automatic” power profile, Cinebench 2024 Multi scores dropped from 2437 to 2312 points. Additionally, 3DMark Steel Nomad sustained performance during a 20-minute stress test fell from 98.5 percent to 87.3 percent of previous levels.

Analysis suggests the decline is due to reduced power draw; in Automatic mode, the chip's wattage dropped from a sustained 65 watts to 54 watts after the update. However, switching manually to the “High Power” profile maintains higher wattage (70 watts sustained) and actually results in higher Cinebench scores than before the update. This suggests the software update may have adjusted the Automatic profile to prioritize lower noise and temperature over maximum performance, rather than intentional hardware throttling.

Separate audio analysis of the 2026 MacBook Pro models (M5 Max and M5 Pro) indicates high-quality speaker performance, with linear frequency response across bass, mid-range, and high-end spectrums.