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Apple Unveils M6 2‑nm Chip and M5 Ultra for Mac mini and Mac Studio

The company says the new silicon is meant to move more AI work onto Macs and let developers run large language models locally.

Overview

  • Apple unveiled the M6 and expanded M5 family on Tuesday, Aug. 25, opened preorders the same day, and said shipments and retail availability begin Sept. 22.
  • The M6 is Apple’s first 2‑nanometer chip with a 12‑core CPU, 12‑core GPU with per‑core Neural Accelerators, a dual 16‑core Neural Engine, and up to 32 GB of unified memory to speed on‑device AI.
  • The M5 Ultra links two M5 Max dies via UltraFusion to form a single chip with up to a 36‑core CPU, up to an 80‑core GPU and a 32‑core Neural Engine and supports huge unified memory configurations for large models.
  • Apple published regional prices and Mexico listings, for example Mac mini with M6 from MXN 19,999 and Mac Studio with M5 Ultra from MXN 129,999, and highlighted claims that the new Macs can run large LLMs locally.
  • Apple’s performance numbers compare the new chips to prior M3/M4 generations but require independent benchmarks, and the launch may be affected by memory supply constraints that have limited prior Mac mini inventory.