Apple has given the 24-inch iMac its first update in two years, swapping in the M6 chip and leaving the colourful design alone. Preorders start on 28 October and the desktop reaches customers on 6 November.
The entry configuration pairs ten CPU cores with ten GPU cores for $1,499, or $1,449 for education buyers. Step up to twelve of each and the price is $1,699 ($1,599 with education pricing). Seven colours return: blue, green, pink, yellow and purple, plus orange and silver.
Where the extra money goes
In its newsroom post, Apple says the new iMac manages up to 5x faster on-device AI work and up to 2x faster graphics than the M4 model, along with SSD reads and writes up to twice as fast. Those numbers are Apple’s own, measured against an M4 iMac with 32GB of memory and a 2TB drive.
The 12-core model gets the nicer extras: 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, four Thunderbolt 4 ports, Touch ID on the bundled Magic Keyboard, and an optional nano-texture display. Both versions use a 24-inch 4.5K Retina panel rated at 500 nits and support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
What stays the same
The design is unchanged from the previous generation, so anyone hoping for a new chassis will not find one. The upgrade is about the chip, the wireless hardware and the storage speed. Apple has not listed memory or storage capacities for the new models in its announcement, so those details are still to be confirmed.
Apple also highlights the Neural Accelerator in each GPU core, which it says helps with local AI tasks, and the dual 16-core Neural Engine. Memory bandwidth reaches 170GB/s on the chip. All of this is a spec-sheet claim until reviewers get hold of units, and the machines only ship in about ten days.
Camera and external displays
The iMac keeps a 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View and a three-microphone array. It can drive two external 6K displays. Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering, Shelly Goldberg, called it “the world’s best all-in-one”.
Buying outside the US
Apple is taking preorders on its website and in its store app in 35 countries and regions. The announcement gives only US prices. We’ll update this post when Pakistan pricing is announced.
