How to read this page. Each section starts Simple, then goes to a Deep dive: stop wherever you have what you need. The small numbers are sources: click one to open the original document. Where the maker has not published a figure -- a price, a die size, a factory address -- this page says so rather than estimate it.
1.At a glance
SimpleStart here
M6 is Apple’s newest Mac chip, and the first one Apple has built on a 2-nanometre manufacturing process. It was announced 25 August 2026 and started shipping 22 September 2026, in one product: the redesigned Mac mini 123.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Apple’s own words: M6 is “Apple’s first state-of-the-art 2-nanometer chip” 1. Unusually, M6 launched at the base tier while the Pro, Max and Ultra tiers that same week still ran the older M5 generation — Mac mini shipped with M6 or M5 Pro, and Mac Studio shipped with M5 Max or M5 Ultra, not M6 versions of either 24. As of this page’s check date, no M6 Pro, M6 Max or M6 Ultra has been announced.
2.Launch and history
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M6 only ships in one machine so far, and it is not the machine you might expect. Apple skipped putting the base M5 chip in the Mac mini entirely — the Mac mini’s last chip before M6 was M4, so Apple compares the new Mac mini against both M4 (its direct predecessor in that specific machine) and M5 (its direct predecessor as a chip generation).
Deep diveThe technical detail
This creates two genuinely different comparison sets in Apple’s own marketing material, and this page keeps them separate rather than blending them: the Mac mini release compares M6 to M4 (and, for context, to the original M1) since M5 never reached that machine 2; the M6 launch release itself, alongside M5 Ultra, compares M6 to M5 directly as chip generations 1. A reader comparing “M6 vs M5” and “new Mac mini vs old Mac mini” is reading two different sets of Apple’s own numbers.
3.What’s inside it
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12-core CPU (2 super cores, 4 performance cores, 6 efficiency cores), 12-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator built into every core, and a dual 16-core Neural Engine 15.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Apple’s own quote from its VP of Silicon Engineering, Sri Santhanam: “Built using the cutting-edge 2 nm process, M6 combines a new CPU complex, two additional CPU and GPU cores, a Dual 16-core Neural Engine, and more unified memory bandwidth to power through workloads with amazing energy efficiency” 1. M6 is a single-die chip — unlike M5 Pro/Max/Ultra, which use Apple’s new multi-die “Fusion Architecture” and UltraFusion, no multi-die construction is described for M6 in any Apple material found. Apple states only that M6 packs “greater transistor density,” with no specific transistor count, and gives no absolute Neural Engine TOPS figure — both “Not published by the company.”
4.Full spec table
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12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, dual 16-core Neural Engine, 16GB unified memory as standard (configurable to 24GB or 32GB), up to 170GB/s of memory bandwidth 15.
Deep diveThe technical detail
| Spec | Apple M6 |
|---|
| CPU cores | 12 (2 super + 4 performance + 6 efficiency) |
|---|
| GPU cores | 12, Neural Accelerator in each core |
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| Neural Engine | Dual 16-core (TOPS not stated) |
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| Unified memory | 16GB standard; configurable to 24GB or 32GB |
|---|
| Memory bandwidth | up to 170GB/s |
|---|
| Process node | 2-nanometre (Apple’s first) |
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| Construction | Single die |
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| Media engine | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1 decode |
|---|
Figures per Apple’s M6 launch release and the Mac mini technical specifications page 15. Transistor count and Neural Engine TOPS are not published by Apple for M6.
5.Where it’s made
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Apple states only “2-nanometer process technology” and, as with every M-series chip, names no foundry.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Apple’s own release never uses the word “TSMC” or “foundry” — verified directly against the launch text 1. The foundry attribution comes from analyst coverage: TrendForce headlines its report “Apple Unveils M6, Its First 2nm Chip Built by TSMC” 6, consistent with TSMC’s own public N2 process roadmap. This page states the 2nm process as Apple’s own claim and the TSMC attribution as third-party analyst reporting, not as something Apple itself has confirmed.
6.Which systems use it
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As of this page’s check date, M6 ships in exactly one product: the redesigned Mac mini, available since 22 September 2026 23.
Deep diveThe technical detail
No Apple Newsroom release for an M6-equipped MacBook, iMac, iPad or Vision Pro was found. The same week’s Mac Studio refresh used M5 Max and M5 Ultra, not M6, and the same week’s higher Mac mini configuration used M5 Pro, not a higher M6 tier 42 — M6 sits only at the entry-level Mac mini today.
7.Official pricing
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Not applicable — Apple does not sell chips separately. Mac mini (M6) starts at $899 ($799 for education) 23.
Deep diveThe technical detail
| Device | Price | Education price |
|---|
| Mac mini (M6) | $899 | $799 |
| Mac mini (M5 Pro, for context — not M6) | $1,699 | $1,599 |
US pricing, confirmed at general availability 23. No chip-only price exists for any Apple silicon.
9.What came before, what came next
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Came before: the M5 family (M5, M5 Pro, M5 Max, M5 Ultra), which finished rolling out the same week as M6’s announcement. Came after: nothing yet — no M6 Pro, Max, Ultra, or M7 of any kind has been announced as of this page’s check date.
Deep diveThe technical detail
M6’s launch is unusual in M-series history: it is the first time Apple has introduced a new base-tier chip generation (M6) in the same announcement window as completing the previous generation’s top tier (M5 Ultra, also announced 25 August 2026) 1. The base, Pro, Max and Ultra tiers of one M-series “generation” are, for the first time in this family’s history covered on this site, split across two different chip generations at once — M6 at the bottom, M5-generation chips everywhere above it.
10.Hidden in plain sight
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The newest Apple silicon chip you can buy right now, at the entry-level Mac mini price, is built on a more advanced manufacturing process than the far more expensive M5 Ultra chip inside the flagship Mac Studio.
Deep diveThe technical detail
M6 uses Apple’s first 2-nanometre process 1; M5 Ultra, announced the same day and priced from $5,499 in Mac Studio, is built on the same “third-generation 3-nanometer” process as the rest of the M5 family, per the M5 family’s own launch material 7. Apple has, for now, introduced its newest fabrication process at the cheapest end of its Mac lineup rather than the most expensive — the opposite of how M4’s node advantage over M3 rolled out, where the most expensive tier arrived first.