macOS Tahoe 26.3.1 update will “upgrade” your M5’s CPU to new “super” cores

As part of Apple’s flurry of Mac announcements earlier this week, the company announced the new M5 Pro and M5 Max processors. And those chips are shaking up the way that Apple designs and talks about its processor cores: What would have been called “performance” CPU cores are now “super” cores. “Efficiency” cores are still called efficiency cores. And there’s a new, third type of CPU core in between that is labeled a “performance” core.

Apple said earlier this week that the “super” name change would retroactively apply to the regular-old Apple M5’s performance cores, too. And the macOS Tahoe 26.3.1 update released yesterday formally made the name change official, changing the labeling in both the System Information app and the Activity Monitor.

The Activity Monitor in macOS 26.3.1 updates your “performance” cores to “super” cores.

Andrew Cunningham

The Activity Monitor in macOS 26.3.1 updates your “performance” cores to “super” cores.

Andrew Cunningham

Activity Monitor on the M5 MacBook Pro in macOS 26.3, before the name change was announced.

Andrew Cunningham

Activity Monitor on the M5 MacBook Pro in macOS 26.3, before the name change was announced.

Andrew Cunningham

The Activity Monitor in macOS 26.3.1 updates your “performance” cores to “super” cores.

Andrew Cunningham

Activity Monitor on the M5 MacBook Pro in macOS 26.3, before the name change was announced.

Andrew Cunningham

The System Information app also now refers to M5’s high-performance cores as “super.”

Andrew Cunningham

The System Information app also now refers to M5’s high-performance cores as “super.”

Andrew Cunningham

System Information in macOS 26.3, when the big cores were still called “performance” cores.

Andrew Cunningham

System Information in macOS 26.3, when the big cores were still called “performance” cores.

Andrew Cunningham

The System Information app also now refers to M5’s high-performance cores as “super.”

Andrew Cunningham

System Information in macOS 26.3, when the big cores were still called “performance” cores.

Andrew Cunningham

This “upgrade” should only apply to the M5 MacBook Pro, the sole M5-family Mac released before the name change was announced. It should go without saying that this is just a name change; you shouldn’t actually expect different behavior or performance from your Mac after installing the update. The new MacBook Airs and Pros with M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max chips will likely already be using the new names out of the box.