Apple is putting its new M6 chip into two more Macs. On October 27, 2026, the company unveiled a 14-inch MacBook Pro and a 24-inch iMac powered by M6, pitching faster on-device AI performance in both machines. Pre-orders open October 28 in 35 countries and regions, with both machines arriving on November 6.

The launch extends the M6 rollout that began in August, when Apple first put the chip in the Mac mini. The iMac gets the bigger jump, moving from the M4 chip it has carried since 2024, while the 14-inch MacBook Pro steps up from the M5 it received last year. Neither machine changes its design. The upgrade is entirely under the hood, and Apple is selling it on one idea: running AI models on the device, with data kept private.

What Is New in the MacBook Pro?

The 14-inch MacBook Pro gets the full M6 chip: a 12-core CPU, a 12-core GPU and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine. Apple says graphics run up to 30 percent faster than the M5 model, and AI workloads run up to 25 percent faster. Compared with the original M1 MacBook Pro, Apple claims up to 11 times faster graphics and up to 13 times faster AI performance.

Battery life is rated at up to 24 hours, which Apple calls the longest ever in a Mac. Unified memory starts at 16GB and can be configured up to 32GB, with memory bandwidth up to 170GB/s. The Liquid Retina XDR display reaches up to 1,600 nits of HDR brightness, with a nano-texture glass option for glare-heavy rooms.

Connectivity also moves forward: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 arrive on both machines, and the MacBook Pro keeps three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, an SDXC card slot and MagSafe 3 charging.

What is new in the M6 MacBook Pro and iMac
Graphic: GPTOnline, using Apple assets. Sources: Apple newsroom, The Hindu, Pocket-lint, October 27-28, 2026.

iMac Gets the Bigger Jump

The 24-inch iMac comes in two M6 versions. The $1,499 model has a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, while the $1,699 model gets the full 12-core chip. Apple says the new iMac delivers up to 5x faster on-device AI performance than the M4 model when running large language models, and up to 12x faster than the M1 iMac. Graphics run up to 2x faster than the M4 model, and the Dual 16-core Neural Engine delivers up to 2x faster AI compute than the previous generation.

For buyers coming from an Intel-based iMac, Apple puts the leap at up to 18x faster overall performance. The iMac also gets SSD storage up to 2x faster, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet on the higher-end model, with up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports.

“iMac is the world’s best all-in-one, and today it raises the bar yet again,” said Shelly Goldberg, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering. “With the blazing performance and AI capabilities of M6 supercharging every workflow and the next generation of Apple Intelligence with Siri AI, combined with its stunning 24-inch Retina display, its gorgeous design in seven vibrant colours, and macOS 27, the new iMac has everything users need to run their businesses, manage their lives, and bring their ideas to life.”

The 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, the 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View, and the seven color options all carry over from the previous iMac. The machine runs macOS 27, with Siri AI built into Spotlight and Apple Intelligence features across Safari, Photos and Shortcuts. Apple also points to a growing set of AI apps optimized for Apple silicon, including LM Studio, Bionic and Topaz Studio.

Pricing and availability of the M6 MacBook Pro and iMac
Graphic: GPTOnline, using Apple assets. Sources: Apple newsroom, The Hindu, Pocket-lint, October 27-28, 2026.

Pricing and Availability

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 starts at $1,999. The iMac with M6 starts at $1,499 for the 10-core model and $1,699 for the 12-core model. Both prices match the levels Apple set earlier this year, so the faster chips arrive without a price increase.

Customers can pre-order both machines starting October 28 in 35 countries and regions, including the United States. They begin arriving to customers and in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers on Friday, November 6.

Why It Matters

The M6 refresh shows how Apple is spreading its newest silicon across the Mac line, and how central on-device AI has become to that pitch. Every performance claim Apple leads with is about AI workloads: prompt processing in LM Studio, running large language models locally, and Siri AI features that use personal context from messages, mail and photos while keeping the data on the device.

The timing is also deliberate. The announcements land one day before Apple’s “Pro and tell” event in Los Angeles on October 28, where Bloomberg News has reported the company is expected to show its first touch-screen MacBook Pro. The M6 MacBook Pro and iMac are the straightforward spec upgrades ahead of that event, and the bigger design changes, if they come, will arrive a day later.

For buyers, the practical question is the upgrade path. Owners of M4 or M5 machines get a solid but incremental step up, while owners of Intel Macs or early Apple silicon machines face a far larger jump. Either way, the M6 line now covers the Mac mini, the entry MacBook Pro and the iMac, with pre-orders open today.

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