Apple unveils M6 MacBook Pro and iMac with faster AI and connectivity

Apple announced new M6-powered versions of its 14-inch MacBook Pro and 24-inch iMac on October 27, 2026, marking significant updates to its laptop and desktop lines. The M6 chip, manufactured by TSMC using a 2nm process, features a 12-core CPU described as having the world's fastest CPU core, alongside a 12-core GPU with integrated Neural Accelerators in each core. Apple claims the M6 delivers up to 30% faster graphics performance and up to 25% faster AI workloads compared to the M5, with up to 13 times faster LLM prompt-processing speed versus the M1 MacBook Pro.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 and offers up to 24 hours of battery life. It includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity, supporting fast charging up to 50% in 30 minutes with a compatible high-wattage adapter. The machine comes with 16GB of unified memory (configurable to 32GB), memory bandwidth of up to 170GB/s, and features a Liquid Retina XDR display with an optional nano-texture finish, 12-megapixel Center Stage camera, six-speaker audio system, and multiple ports including HDMI, MagSafe 3, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, and SDXC card slot. Available in space black and silver, preorders began October 28 with availability starting November 6.

The 24-inch iMac begins at $1,499 and features the same M6 chip alongside a 4.5K Retina display. The iMac comes in seven colors (blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange, and silver) with color-matched accessories. It includes up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports and delivers what Apple claims is up to five times faster on-device AI performance compared to the M4 model. Both machines ship with macOS 27.

The M6 iMac represents a generational jump from the M4 model (which used a 3nm process), introducing a dual 16-core Neural Engine configuration totaling 32 cores, unified memory bandwidth increased to up to 170GB/s from 120GB/s, PCIe 5.0 SSD storage with up to 2x faster read and write performance, Apple's proprietary N1 wireless networking chip, and upgraded ethernet to 2.5Gb as standard on the four-port model. Apple also increased renewable electricity sourcing in M6 iMac manufacturing to 40% from over 20% in the M4 generation.

The announcements come one day before Apple's "Pro and Tell" event scheduled for October 28, and follow the company's launch of its M6 Mac mini in September and iPad mini on October 27. Both the MacBook Pro and iMac can be preordered beginning October 28, with general availability starting November 6.