Apple unveiled two new chips, the M5 Ultra and M6, alongside updated Mac mini and Mac Studio models. The new Macs are now available to preorder, starting at $899 for the Mac mini, with shipments beginning after September 22.
The M5 Ultra is Apple’s most ambitious chip design yet. Instead of combining two chips in the usual configuration, Apple fused two dual-die M5 Max processors into a four-die design.
That gives the M5 Ultra up to a 36-core CPU, an 80-core GPU, and 1.2 TB/s of unified memory bandwidth. Apple says that is 50 percent more bandwidth than the M3 Ultra introduced about 18 months ago.
The chip is built for the absolute heaviest workloads. It’s designed to handle intense 3D rendering, complex visual effects, and massive local AI models that would choke a standard desktop.
M6 brings more AI performance to the mainstream
The M6 is aimed at a much broader part of Apple’s Mac lineup. Built on a 2-nanometer process, it has a new 12-core CPU complex, two more cores than the M5, along with a dual 16-core Neural Engine and higher memory bandwidth.
Apple says the combination delivers nearly 30 percent higher peak GPU compute for AI workloads compared with the M5. That extra headroom is designed to improve on-device AI performance, including the ability to run language models without sending the workload to the cloud.
Apple’s developer tools can automatically distribute AI workloads across the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine. Developers can also use Apple’s Foundation Models, integrate Apple Intelligence features through App Intents, or run their own models directly on the Mac.
Apple is putting more AI on the Mac
The new chips give Apple more room to push AI processing onto the device itself.
The M6 is designed to bring that capability to everyday Macs, while the M5 Ultra takes it much further for developers and professionals working with large models.
The amount of unified memory and bandwidth available on the Ultra is particularly important for AI models that would otherwise have to rely on remote servers.
That also gives Apple another way to differentiate its silicon as AI workloads become a bigger part of everyday computing.
Rather than making every AI task dependent on a cloud connection, the company’s latest chips are increasingly designed to handle those workloads locally.
The updated Mac mini starts at $899 and is available to preorder now, with shipments beginning after September 22.
