Apple unveils 2-nanometer M6 chip and M5 Ultra for AI-powered Mac mini and Mac Studio

Apple on Tuesday unveiled its new M6 and M5 Ultra chips, powering updated Mac mini and Mac Studio desktops designed for on-device artificial intelligence workloads. The M6, Apple’s first 2-nanometer chip, debuts in the Mac mini with a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, and dual 16-core Neural Engine, delivering up to four times faster AI performance than the prior M4-based model, according to the company .

The Mac Studio, targeted at professionals, now offers the M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips. The M5 Ultra features up to 36 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores, with Apple stating it supports running large language models locally without cloud dependency. The chip uses UltraFusion to combine two M5 Max dies, achieving 1.25 times faster single-thread and 1.3 times faster multi-thread performance than the M3 Ultra, per Apple’s figures .

Both systems will ship with macOS 27 Golden Gate, including Apple Intelligence and Siri AI. Reservations opened Tuesday, with availability in U.S. stores starting Sept. 22. The Mac mini with M6 starts at $899, while the Mac Studio with M5 Ultra begins at $2,499; a 512GB unified memory option for the Mac Studio will arrive in late October .

In Europe, pricing for the Mac mini starts at €1,050, and the Mac Studio ranges from €3,000 to €20,600 for the highest configuration, according to Apple’s regional listings . The M5 Ultra supports up to 512GB of unified memory at 1.2TB/s bandwidth, enabling local AI model training and inference, as noted by Apple .

The Mac Studio also introduces Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, allowing up to eight displays or four 5K Studio Displays at 120Hz. A new 2.5-gigabit Ethernet port is standard on the Mac mini, with a 10-gigabit upgrade available . Apple’s updates follow a December 2025 macOS release that enabled distributed AI inference via Thunderbolt 5, which developers have since used to chain multiple Macs for larger model workloads .