Apple unveils M6, M5 Ultra chips and updates its desktop Macs

In a bit of a late-August surprise while the world awaits word on the next generation of iPhones, on Tuesday Apple announced two new processors, the M5 Ultra and M6, which help power new iterations of its Mac Studio and Mac mini desktop computers. Both models are available to pre-order now and will ship on September 22 and will run macOS 27 Golden Gate.

Bridging the generations

The M6 chip kicks off Apple’s next chip generation, and is its first based on a 2-nanometer production process. It’s also got the first 12-core CPU in Apple’s base M-series chip line, up from 10 cores in the M4 and M5 generations.

Those CPU cores are in an interesting configuration: The M6 is the first Apple chip to mix all three of its CPU core types. The chip has six efficiency cores, four performance cores, and two super cores. According to Apple, each core design is focused on a different primary task: efficiency cores are meant to sip power (useful when running simple background tasks); performance cores are optimized for complex, multi-threaded jobs; and super cores were created to offer the highest possible single-threaded performance.

Apple claims that this design results in record-setting single-threaded performance and up to 1.2x speed improvements over the M5 chip. The M6 also offers a dual 16-core Neural Engine, for on-device AI performance. Memory bandwidth peaks at 170GB/s, 10 percent faster than the M5.

Just as the new chip generation arrives, the previous one (launched in October 2025) is completed. The M5 Ultra is Apple’s first new Ultra chip since it introduced the M3 Ultra in March 2025. Apple says it’s using the next generation of its UltraFusion technology to connect two dual-die M5 Max chips to make Apple silicon’s first quad-die chip. UltraFusion connects the two dies with bandwidth of more than 4.4TB/s, letting the four dies work as a single chip.

The M5 Ultra offers up to 36 CPU cores (12 super/24 performance), which Apple says results in up to 1.25x higher single-threaded performance and up to 1.3x higher multithreaded performance than the M3 Ultra. It offers up to 80 GPU cores and up to 512GB of memory with 1.2TB/s of unified memory bandwidth.

Meet the Mac mini

Same familiar tiny Mac mini, but with faster chips and a higher price.

Previously available in M4 and M4 Pro configurations, the new Mac mini is available in M6 and M5 Pro chip options. The new base price is $899, up $100 from the previous base, for the same standard 16GB RAM/256GB storage configuration. The M5 Pro configuration starts at $1699, also up $100 from the model sold until Tuesday. (But keep in mind, the M4 Mac mini was introduced at $599 before Apple recently raised that price. Put together, it’s a 50% price increase over the model introduced almost two years ago. We all know why, but it still hurts.)

Because the Mac mini previously shipped with M4 processors, this new model picks up numerous improvements Apple made in the M5 generation, including GPUs better optimized for AI performance. Both models support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 via Apple’s N1 chip, and 2.5Gb Ethernet is now standard, with 10Gb Ethernet still available as an add-on. The M6 model supports Thunderbolt 4, but the M5 Pro model supports Thunderbolt 5.

Mac Studio advances in unison

A familiar look, but the new Mac Studio is all M5.

At the same moment the Mac mini becomes split between two chip generations, the Mac Studio gets reunified with chips from the same generation: the M5 Max and the new M5 Ultra. As mentioned previously, the M5 Ultra is basically two M5 Max chips connected together by Apple’s dense, fast UltraFusion technology. Apple boasts that the M5 Ultra is the fastest chip Apple has ever created, which isn’t much of a stretch since the M5 Max was already pretty far up there.

The Mac Studio is effectively the replacement for the Mac Pro, and it’s alone in offering the Ultra-class chip. Apple has positioned the Mac Studio as ideal for local AI workflows, and the new models will still be able to cluster via Thunderbolt 5 to create even larger collections of memory and performance. Apple representatives pointed out that a four-Mac Studio AI cluster, like the one I saw on display at WWDC earlier this summer, is so efficient that it can be powered from a single standard wall outlet. (They even showed us a picture of four Mac Studios plugged into a power strip that was plugged into the wall.) In an era of data center excesses, Apple is clearly leaning into the possibility of small, efficient Macs being used to do local AI work rather than relying on huge, power-hungry cloud models.

As with the Mac mini, the Mac Studio gains M5 chip improvements that benefit AI models running on GPU cores, integrate the N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and support 2x faster storage with speeds up to 15GB/s.

The M5 Max Mac Studio starts at $2499, the same as the M4 model on sale until Tuesday. (But keep in mind, it was introduced 17 months ago for $1999.) The M5 Ultra model starts at $5499, up $200 from the M3 Ultra model previously on sale (which was itself originally offered for $3999).