M5 Pro runners for GitHub Actions, coming to Bitrise Build Hub

Apple announced the M6 and M5 Pro on August 25, 2026, both inside the redesigned Mac mini. Bitrise Build Hub will be the first GitHub Actions runner alternative to add them to the fleet. That means your builds run on the newest Apple silicon before any other GitHub Actions runner can offer it.

That's not a one-off. We've shipped new runners fast on every Apple silicon generation since M1 all the way up to M4 Pro, and M5 Pro and M6 are next. It’s part of our commitment to making sure our customers have access to the most powerful build machines on the market. Same story every time: new chip drops, your builds get faster, and you don't have to do a thing to make that happen.

But enough about us. Let’s talk about the tech.

M5 Pro runner specs

The M5 Pro is Apple's new Pro-class chip. That means:

• Up to an 18-core CPU
• Up to a 20-core GPU with third-generation ray tracing
• Up to 64GB of unified memory
• 307GB/s of memory bandwidth. 

The M6 sits below it with a 12-core CPU, a 12-core GPU, and up to 32GB of memory. Apple's headline numbers are about AI and graphics, but for iOS and Android CI, the two specs that matter most are core count and memory bandwidth. The M5 Pro has more of both than any Mac chip we've run so far.

So while the M6 is the newer generation number, the M5 Pro is the bigger chip, which is what really counts for build runners.

M5 Pro tiers coming first to Bitrise Build Hub

When will M5 Pro land on Bitrise Build Hub

Apple opens Mac mini pre-orders today, August 25, and ships on September 22. M5 Pro and M6 runners will be live on Bitrise Build Hub shortly after the hardware lands. Once the machines are in production, we'll publish benchmarks against our own M4 Pros and against GitHub's default Mac runners.

The Apple silicon supply chain we control

We often get asked how we manage to deliver the latest Apple silicon to our users almost as fast as it drops. The simple answer is that we own the machines. They sit in our data centers in the US and EU, and we run every layer of the stack from metal to build environment. Vertical integration means we control procurement. There’s no cloud provider in the middle deciding when new chips get added to their catalogue. And when new Apple silicon ships, we’re already building stacks for it.

That's the same reason Bitrise Build Hub customers have not been affected by the recent M4 shortage. Most GitHub Actions runner alternative providers can't move that fast, because the hardware isn't theirs. The lack of vertical integration isn’t just about faster machines: it also drags on reliability, Xcode update speed, and uptime whenever the supply chain breaks.

Fastest macOS runners for GitHub Actions, available now

For the moment, M4 Pro is still the fastest Mac runner available for GitHub Actions today, roughly 54% faster than GitHub-hosted runners for iOS builds.

Bitrise Build Hub runs M4 to M4 Pro, on hardware we own and operate. If you're running mobile CI/CD on GitHub Actions and want faster macOS runners without switching platforms, Build Hub is a drop-in replacement. No workflow changes, no migration, just a one-line code change. See the docs for full fleet specs.

What else Bitrise Build Hub gives you

The newest Apple silicon is only part of it. Build Hub is made for mobile CI/CD teams that need fast, reliable infrastructure with zero maintenance, not just on launch day but every day after it.

We update our Xcode stacks within 24 hours of Apple's release. We offer concurrency that scales to what you need, no minimum host commitments. Our VM runner pools are prewarmed: no cold boots, your workflow triggers and the build starts immediately. And our 99.9% uptime SLA is publicly tracked at status.bitrise.io.

Your GitHub Actions workflows stay the same, your runners get faster, and you stop worrying about whether your infrastructure can keep up with Apple's release schedule. And you get to plug into the M5 Pro the moment it goes live.

Want to test at scale? Reach out for an extended POC. Not on GitHub Actions? Get in touch and we'll work out the right setup.