Apple's M6 MacBook Pro and iMac Target On Device AI
Apple introduced a new 14 inch MacBook Pro and a refreshed iMac, both built around its M6 chip, and pitched the machines on how quickly they can run AI models without sending the work to a server. The 14 inch MacBook Pro starts at USD 1,999 and the iMac at USD 1,499. Pre orders open the following day in 35 countries and regions, the United States included, and units reach stores about ten days later.
Apple says the M6 MacBook Pro delivers up to 30 per cent faster graphics and up to 25 per cent faster AI performance than the M5 model it replaces, with battery life of up to 24 hours, the longest the company has claimed on a Mac. The new iMac, it says, runs on device AI tasks up to five times faster than the previous M4 version.
And the chip itself carries the story. M6 has a 12 core processor and a 12 core graphics unit, with neural accelerators built into each graphics core, alongside what Apple describes as a dual 16 core neural engine. The processor has two more cores than the previous generation, and Apple is selling that combination as the reason AI work can stay on the machine.
That framing matters more than the clock speeds. Running a model locally keeps the data on the device, which Apple treats as a privacy argument, and it removes the latency that comes with a round trip to a server. For a laptop that has to work on a train, that is a practical difference rather than a marketing one.
The iMac gets the same chip family, with up to a 12 core processor, again two more than before. Apple claims the fastest single threaded performance of any personal computer for it. The all in one also moves to newer wireless standards, adds 2.5 gigabit Ethernet for wired connections, and keeps up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, enough to drive two 6K displays.
And both machines ship with macOS 27, which brings Siri AI, a more conversational assistant, and Apple Intelligence features spread across the built in apps. In Safari, the company says, those features can group tabs by topic, watch pages for changes such as restocks or price cuts, and build custom extensions.
But the timing is the part worth watching. The launch lands a day before Apple holds an event in Los Angeles that Bloomberg News has reported will feature the company's first touchscreen MacBook Pro. A quiet specification refresh immediately before a change of form factor is a deliberate sequencing choice, and it keeps the familiar machines on sale while the new category is introduced.
There is a commercial logic underneath it too. Apple has spent two years arguing that its silicon advantage is an AI advantage, and this generation is the first where the claim rests on neural hardware inside the graphics cores rather than on a separate engine alone. Buyers who want local inference now have a concrete specification to compare, and rivals shipping neural processors have a number to answer.
But none of this settles whether on device AI is what people actually buy a computer for. What Apple has done is make the argument specific, with a price, a shipping window and a benchmark it is willing to be measured against.
14 inch MacBook Pro with M6 from USD 1,999, iMac from USD 1,499
Pre orders open in 35 countries and regions, including the US, with stock about ten days later
Apple claims up to 25 per cent faster AI performance and 24 hours of battery on the MacBook Pro
iMac claimed up to five times faster on device AI than the M4 model
M6 pairs a 12 core processor with a 12 core graphics unit carrying neural accelerators
Source: Reuters
