Apple's M6 iMac Hits Stores With 40% Faster CPU, Wi-Fi 7 and Dual Neural Engine at Unchanged $1,499 Price

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple's updated iMac reaches customers Friday, bringing the company's M6 chip, faster wireless connectivity and improved AI performance to its colorful all-in-one desktop.

Announced Oct. 27, the new model replaces the M4 iMac introduced in 2024, with Apple skipping the M5 generation. It launches Friday, Nov. 6.

Performance gains

The chip is the main upgrade. The M6 has up to a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU and dual 16-core Neural Engine, and Apple claims 40% faster CPU performance, twice-as-fast graphics and storage, and five times faster on-device AI performance than the M4 model.

The M6 chip, first introduced in the Mac mini in August, features the first-ever dual Neural Engine, and the iMac now has Neural Accelerators in each GPU core for the first time. Memory bandwidth rises to up to 170GB/s from 120GB/s.

Connectivity

With Apple's N1 chip, the iMac now supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, up from Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. It can also be configured with 2.5Gb Ethernet.

Familiar design

The design and colors are unchanged: blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange and silver, with a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with up to 500 nits brightness and a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera.

Pricing

Pricing begins at $1,499 for the 10-core model with two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports and $1,699 for the 12-core model with four Thunderbolt 4 ports, both with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage. Storage tops out at 2TB and RAM at 32GB.

The pricing has drawn some criticism. The equivalent previous model also started at $1,499 after a price increase in June; it was originally $1,299. Against that original 2024 price, the new machine costs $200 more, a rise of roughly 15%, even though the display, camera, speakers and design are unchanged.

Education buyers get a discount. Education pricing is $1,449 and $1,599 for the two models.

Who should upgrade

The new model is most compelling for older machines. For Intel iMac owners, it brings modern Apple silicon features, a newer camera and the current wireless platform, while for M1 owners heavy creative work and local AI create a clearer reason to upgrade than routine browsing.