Apple announced the 24-inch iMac with M6 on October 27. $1,499 gets a 10-core CPU, 16GB, 256GB and two Thunderbolt ports; $1,699 gets 12 cores and four ports. Wi-Fi 7, optional 2.5Gb Ethernet, pre-orders October 28, in stores November 6.
Apple announced the 24-inch iMac with M6 by press release on Tuesday, October 27. It looks exactly like the M4 iMac it replaces, in the same seven colors. The changes are inside: the M6 chip, Wi-Fi 7, faster storage and an optional 2.5Gb Ethernet port. Pre-orders open Wednesday, October 28, and it ships Friday, November 6.
Prices
| Model | CPU / GPU | Thunderbolt 4 ports | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 10-core / 10-core | 2 | $1,499 |
| Step-up | 12-core / 12-core | 4 | $1,699 |
Both start with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, according to MacRumors, and go up to 32GB and 2TB. Education pricing is $1,449 and $1,599. The 2.5Gb Ethernet power adapter is a $30 option on the base model and included on the $1,699 one, MacRumors reports.
$1,499 is the same price the M4 iMac carried after Apple raised it in June. That model launched at $1,299, according to MacRumors.
What changed
- CPU and GPU. Up to 12 cores each, two more than before, with Neural Accelerators in every GPU core. Apple claims up to 2x faster graphics than M4.
- AI. Apple’s Dual 16-core Neural Engine. Apple claims up to 5x faster on-device AI than M4, measured on prompt processing in LM Studio.
- Everyday apps. Apple claims up to 1.5x faster performance in Microsoft Excel than M4, and 2.5x versus an M1 iMac.
- Memory bandwidth. Up to 170GB/s, up from 120GB/s on M4, per MacRumors.
- Storage. PCIe 5.0, up to 2x faster reads and writes than M4.
- Wireless and wired. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 through the N1 chip. 2.5Gb Ethernet, up from Gigabit.
- External displays. Up to two 6K monitors.
Same as before: the 24-inch 4.5K display at 500 nits, the 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View, and a Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse in the box.
Confirmed vs. reported
Confirmed by Apple’s press release: the chip, the speed claims, the connectivity, the two prices and the dates. The performance numbers are Apple’s own tests. Port counts, the $30 Ethernet option and the base memory and storage are from MacRumors’ reading of Apple’s configurations. Not confirmed: Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported on October 25 that an OLED iMac is still in testing and “some way off.”
What it means
Buy the $1,699 model if the iMac is your work desk. The $200 gets you two more CPU cores, two more GPU cores, two more Thunderbolt ports and the 2.5Gb Ethernet port. Two ports fill up fast with a second monitor, a dock or a drive and a webcam. Adding Ethernet to the base model already costs $30, which brings the real gap to $170.
256GB is tight for work. Check the storage upgrade price on Wednesday before you order, because both models start there.
If you own an M4 iMac, keep it. Apple’s 1.5x Excel figure won’t change a workday of calls, docs and a browser. If you’re on an M1 or an Intel iMac, this is a real upgrade, and Apple’s trade-in credit for an iMac rose to $440 on October 26. Don’t wait for an OLED iMac. Nobody has given it a date.
If you need to work from more than one desk, compare it with a laptop first. The M6 14-inch MacBook Pro costs $1,999 with the same 12-core M6 and 1TB of storage, and it drives two external monitors. Pair it with a $300 4K screen from Enzo’s monitor guide for a MacBook Pro and you have a desk plus a travel machine for about $600 more than the step-up iMac ($2,299 vs. $1,699). If you want a bigger screen than 24 inches, the 27 vs. 32 inch monitor guide covers the trade-off.
Primary source: Apple Newsroom, “Apple unveils new iMac with M6,” October 27, 2026. Additional reporting from MacRumors and its pre-order report.