Apple on Tuesday unveiled a new 14-inch MacBook Pro and a new iMac powered by its M6 chip, pitching faster on-device artificial intelligence, longer MacBook battery life and pre-orders from October 28, with availability starting November 6. The MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 and the iMac at $1,499, and Apple says the MacBook Pro delivers up to 30 percent faster graphics and up to 25 percent faster AI performance than its M5 predecessor, while the iMac delivers up to five times faster on-device AI performance than the previous M4 model. The launch lands a day before Apple’s October 28 event in Los Angeles.
The MacBook Pro Gets M6
The 14-inch MacBook Pro is the only MacBook Pro to get the M6 chip in this refresh, and the change is focused on the chip rather than a redesign. The M6 chip has a 12-core CPU, with two super cores, four performance cores and six efficiency cores, paired with a 12-core GPU. That is up from the M5 chip, which had a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU.
Apple says the Neural Engine doubles from 16 cores to a dual 16-core system with 32 cores in total, with additional Neural Accelerators in the GPU. Memory bandwidth rises from 153GB/s to 170GB/s, but only on models with 24GB and 32GB of memory. The base 16GB model stays at 153GB/s, according to Apple’s specifications.
The new MacBook Pro also adds Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 through Apple’s N1 wireless chip, and it can drive dual external 4K displays at up to 165Hz, up from 144Hz. It continues to start with 1TB of storage, after Apple dropped the 512GB option in March, and it is available in Space Black and Silver, with configurations up to 32GB of memory and 4TB of storage.
Battery life is a headline claim: up to 24 hours, which Apple describes as the longest ever in a Mac. Pre-orders open on Wednesday, October 28, in 35 countries and regions including the United States, with availability starting Friday, November 6. The MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, with 16GB of unified memory and 1TB of storage as standard.
The iMac Jumps From M4 To M6
The iMac upgrade is the larger jump of the two. Apple last refreshed its all-in-one desktop in 2024 with the M4 chip, so moving straight to M6 is a two-generation step for many buyers. The new iMac also starts at $1,499, and Apple says the gain is most striking for users coming from an Intel-based iMac, who will see performance up to 18 times faster.
Both M6 iMac models start with 16GB of unified memory. The model with four Thunderbolt and USB4 ports starts at $1,699 and can be configured up to 32GB of memory and 2TB of storage. The iMac also adds Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and the four-port model includes a 2.5Gb Ethernet port by default, with that port optional on the base model.
Like the MacBook Pro, the iMac is available to pre-order from October 28 and ships from November 6.
What M6 Changes For AI On The Device
Apple’s pitch is not just about raw speed. It is about running AI tasks on the device itself, rather than sending them to the cloud. That matters for privacy, because local processing keeps more data on the machine, and for responsiveness, because tasks do not wait on a network connection.
The company points to Apple Intelligence features across apps and macOS, to Siri AI, and to running large language models locally. A dual Neural Engine and extra Neural Accelerators are meant to make those workloads feel faster, even as the underlying models grow larger.
That is also why the memory bandwidth split matters. Buyers who plan to run local models or heavy creative work will get the full 170GB/s only on the 24GB and 32GB configurations, while the base 16GB model keeps the M5-era bandwidth. For everyday use, that difference may not be visible, but for pro workloads it is worth checking before ordering.
Why It Matters
This is a measured refresh, not a redesign, and that is the point. Apple is keeping the MacBook Pro and iMac familiar while moving the chip underneath them, and it is doing so just before its October 28 event, where Bloomberg has reported that Apple’s first touch-screen MacBook Pro is expected. Buyers who want a new machine now get M6 performance without waiting for a new form factor, while buyers who want a touchscreen or an OLED display have a reason to wait a day.
The launch also fits Apple’s wider autumn pattern. The company has already refreshed other products this month, including a new iPad mini, and it is using the M6 chip, first announced in August alongside the new Mac mini, across more of its Mac line. For Apple, the story is consistency: the same chip, the same AI features, and the same November 6 availability date for both machines.
Background
Apple announced the M6 chip in August alongside the new Mac mini, and the MacBook Pro had already moved to M5 before this refresh. The iMac, by contrast, had not been refreshed since its M4 update in 2024, making this its first major chip update in two years.
Source: Reuters report
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