The Pulse
Apple Adds M6 to iMac and MacBook Pro, Pitches Local AI
Apple announced M6 versions of the iMac and 14-inch MacBook Pro, with preorders beginning October 28 and availability starting November 6. The company emphasizes on-device AI performance and says some server-based Apple Intelligence feature
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
Apple is selling the M6 as a local-AI upgrade, but the two Macs it announced on October 27 are not yet shipping. The company says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro can process large-language-model prompts up to 13 times faster than an M1 model, while the updated iMac delivers up to five times the on-device AI performance of its M4 predecessor. Both go up for preorder October 28 and are scheduled to arrive November 6.
The timing extends a rollout that began with the M6 Mac mini, which Apple introduced in August and made available September 22. The new iMac and MacBook Pro add Apple’s latest chip to two more familiar designs, with the company making local model use and its new Siri AI central to the pitch.
Apple’s M6 arrives in two more Macs
The M6 has a 12-core CPU, a GPU with Neural Accelerators in every core, and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine. Apple identifies it as its first 2-nanometer chip and says it supports up to 170GB/s of unified memory bandwidth. The MacBook Pro comes with 16GB of unified memory and can be configured with up to 32GB.
“With the powerful M6 chip, we’re taking performance to the next level, with a boost in CPU speed and graphics and even more powerful capabilities for on-device AI.”
Shelly Goldberg, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering
The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 in the U.S. The iMac starts at $1,499 with a 10-core CPU and GPU, or $1,699 with 12-core versions of both.
The AI gains come with Apple’s own benchmarks
Apple’s numbers use different machines and tests as their baselines. For the MacBook Pro, it claims up to 25 percent faster on-device AI performance than the M5 and up to 13 times faster LLM prompt processing than a 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1. Against the M5 model, Apple’s stated gain for prompt processing is up to 1.3 times.
For the iMac, Apple claims up to 12 times faster on-device prompt processing than an M1 iMac and up to five times faster than an M4 model, using LM Studio. The company says its testing was conducted in September 2026. Those are Apple’s comparisons, not an independent head-to-head assessment.
Local models share the pitch with Siri AI
Apple presents the new Macs as machines for running AI models on-device, as well as for using Apple Intelligence features in macOS 27. The iMac announcement also names apps including LM Studio Bionic, Topaz Studio and Claude; Apple says the M6 can support local models while keeping their processing on the computer. The chip’s Neural Accelerators and Neural Engine are the hardware behind that claim.
Apple says Siri AI is rolling out in beta in macOS 27. Some Apple Intelligence features that rely on server-side models, including Siri AI, have daily usage limits. The company says expanded access to those features will be available for a fee in the future.
The Mac mini is already on sale
The M6 Mac mini gives Apple’s new announcements a product already on the market. It starts at $899, and Apple says it delivers up to four times the AI performance, without specifying a comparison to an M1 predecessor. The addition of an iMac and a MacBook Pro spreads the M6 across a compact desktop, an all-in-one and a portable pro model.
Customers can preorder the new iMac and 14-inch MacBook Pro on October 28 in 35 countries and regions, including the United States. Apple lists November 6 as the date they begin arriving at customers’ homes and Apple stores. Until then, the M6 Mac mini remains the only one of these three M6 Macs available to buy.