iMac M6 (2026): Price, Specs, Release Date and Who Should Upgrade

Key facts

Price: $1,499 for the 10-core CPU / 10-core GPU model ($1,449 with education pricing); $1,699 for the 12-core CPU / 12-core GPU model ($1,599 education). Apple Upgrade leases start at $28.99 a month for 36 months in the US.
Dates: pre-orders from October 28, in stores and arriving to customers from November 6, 2026.
Chip: M6 with up to a 12-core CPU and up to a 12-core GPU, each two cores more than before, Neural Accelerators in every GPU core, a "Dual 16-core Neural Engine" and memory bandwidth up to 170GB/s.
Display: 24-inch 4.5K Retina, 500 nits, P3 wide color.
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, available 2.5Gb Ethernet, up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, support for up to two 6K external displays.
Other: 12MP Center Stage camera, two pairs of force-cancelling woofers plus two tweeters with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support, color-matched keyboard and mouse or trackpad, macOS 27.
Colors: blue, green, pink, yellow, purple, orange and silver.

Apple announced a new 24-inch iMac with the M6 chip on October 27, 2026. Pre-orders opened October 28 in 35 countries and regions, including the US, and the first units arrive on Friday, November 6. Prices start at $1,499. The headline changes are two more CPU and GPU cores, faster Wi-Fi and Ethernet, and quicker storage; the design and the seven colors carry over.

Apple's iMac With M6: $1,499 Start, More Cores, Wi-Fi 7, Arriving November 6

What changed from the M4 iMac

Apple's own comparisons, based on its September 2026 testing, claim up to 1.5x faster performance in apps like Excel, up to 2x faster graphics, up to 5x faster on-device AI prompt processing in LM Studio, and up to 2x higher ray-traced gaming performance versus the M4 model. Storage reads and writes are up to 2x faster, and the 2.5Gb Ethernet option is up to 2.5x faster than before. Against the most popular Intel-based iMac, Apple claims up to 18x faster performance.

Our take

This is an evolutionary update to a design that did not need replacing. For anyone with an M4 iMac, the gains are real but not urgent; a 1.5x improvement in everyday apps is not something most family or office users will feel day to day.

The upgrade case is strongest in two groups. The first is anyone still on an Intel iMac, where Apple claims up to 18x faster performance. The second is people who want to run AI models locally: the extra GPU cores, the higher memory bandwidth and the Neural Accelerators are aimed squarely at that, although the memory you configure will matter as much as the chip.

Check the configuration carefully. The $1,499 model has the 10-core chip, and Apple describes 2.5Gb Ethernet as "available" and the Thunderbolt 4 ports as "up to four", which suggests not every configuration gets them. If you need either, confirm it at checkout. Our iMac M6 vs MacBook Pro guide compares this iMac with Apple's new MacBook Pro models.

Where to buy

See iMac with M6 configurations

Editorial disclosure

SurfGirl may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. That does not affect our coverage. Performance figures are Apple's own claims; we have not tested the new iMac.

References

Apple. Apple unveils new iMac with M6, delivering a major boost in performance and AI capabilities. Published October 27, 2026. Retrieved October 30, 2026, from https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/10/apple-unveils-new-imac-with-m6/