Apple Unveils Mac Mini with 2nm M6 Chip... AI Performance Up to 4 Times Faster

Apple Debuts First 2nm Processor;
Mac Mini Price Rises by 600,000 Won


Mac Studio with M5 Max and Ultra Also Unveiled

Apple has unveiled new chipsets that significantly enhance artificial intelligence (AI) performance, along with its latest personal computer (PC) product lines—the new "Mac Mini" and "Mac Studio" models equipped with these chips.

Apple announced upgraded versions of the Mac Mini and Mac Studio and said pre-orders would begin on August 25 (local time). In addition, the company introduced two new chipsets: the next-generation "M6"—the first to utilize a 2-nanometer (nm) process for Apple's system-on-chip lineup—and the high-end "M5 Ultra."

Apple Mac Mini. Apple

Earlier this year, the Mac Mini experienced strong demand as the popularity of AI agents surged, with the device considered optimal for running on-device AI thanks to its price-to-performance advantage. The previous Mac Mini, launched in October 2024, featured the M4 chipset. Now, the newest model debuts after about two years, equipped with the latest chipsets.

The exterior of the new Mac Mini is unchanged from the previous generation, maintaining its compact 12.7cm (5 inches) square design. The new Mac Mini comes in two models—one featuring the M6 chipset and the other the M5 Pro.

The latest products are specifically focused on AI performance. According to Apple, both new models deliver more than four times the AI performance compared to models with the M4 and M4 Pro chipsets. The M6 model achieves up to 4.8 times faster large language model (LLM) prompt processing compared to the previous M4 version. The M5 Pro model also achieves a fourfold improvement in LLM prompt processing over the M4 Pro.

As the latest Mac Mini focuses strongly on AI performance improvements, it is expected to support on-device operation of open-source AI models.

Apple Mac Studio. Apple

The professional high-performance desktop Mac Studio has also received its first upgrade in about a year and a half. The appearance remains the same as the prior generation, now equipped with the M5 Max and M5 Ultra chipsets. Mac Studio's new model also delivers four times the AI processing performance of its predecessor. Apple says this brings desktop-level support for running the highest-end AI models.

The M6 and M5 Ultra chipsets, newly equipped in the latest Mac Mini and Mac Studio, made their public debut in this announcement. The M6 is Apple’s first chip produced using a 2nm process, featuring a 12-core central processing unit (CPU) and a 12-core graphics processing unit (GPU). The new chips are designed to improve AI capabilities by increasing the number of CPU and GPU cores and by incorporating a neural engine and advanced accelerators.

The Mac Mini’s price has risen compared to the previous generation, mainly due to the recent shortage in memory semiconductors. In Korea, the M6 Mac Mini model with 256 gigabytes (GB) of storage and 16GB of RAM is priced at 1,499,000 won. This is about 600,000 won higher than the launch price of the M4 model with the same storage capacity, which was 890,000 won. Although the M4-equipped Mac Mini was released at 890,000 won, its price was raised to 1,349,000 won in June due to the sudden jump in memory costs.

Meanwhile, the Mac Studio’s starting price remains unchanged from the previous version at 4,290,000 won. At launch, the M4 Max Mac Studio was priced at 3,290,000 won, but its price was raised to 4,290,000 won in June, also due to memory supply shortages.

Apple's proprietary chipsets, the M6 and M5 Max. Apple

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.