CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA — Apple officially unveiled its next-generation silicon architecture today, introducing the all-new M6 chip alongside the powerhouse M5 Ultra. Designed to power the company’s latest desktop lineup—including the updated Mac mini and high-end Mac Studio—the new processors represent a major leap forward in graphics performance, memory bandwidth, and on-device artificial intelligence processing. In India, the new M6-powered Mac mini starts at Rs. 99,900 (with education pricing starting at Rs. 88,990). Meanwhile, the top-tier Mac Studio featuring the M5 Ultra chip commands a starting price of Rs. 6,29,900 (education pricing at Rs. 5,84,900), positioning it firmly as a flagship machine for extreme professional workloads.
The standard M6 introduces Apple’s transition to a 2-nanometer manufacturing process. It features a 12-core CPU paired with a 12-core GPU, delivering up to 30 percent faster peak GPU compute performance over its predecessor. To handle increasingly complex generative AI tasks, the M6 incorporates an upgraded architecture with a dual 16-core Neural Engine and built-in Neural Accelerators across every GPU core. Supporting up to 32GB of unified memory with bandwidth reaching 170GB/s, the M6 makes its debut inside the redesigned Mac mini.
Positioned at the highest end of the performance spectrum, the M5 Ultra debuts as Apple’s most powerful processor to date. Built by interconnecting two dual-die M5 Max chips via next-generation UltraFusion technology, it marks Apple’s first system-on-chip to utilize a quad-die architecture. The M5 Ultra boasts up to a 36-core CPU, an 80-core GPU, and a massive 1.2TB/s of unified memory bandwidth, allowing pro users to run massive local language models and edit up to 33 simultaneous streams of 8K ProRes video.
Both processors are available for pre-order starting today, with shipments to customers and in-store availability across India set to begin on September 22. Industry analysts note that the dual release highlights Apple’s aggressive strategy to maintain its lead in desktop hardware, catering simultaneously to everyday consumer workflows and demanding pro-level AI development.
