M6 iMac starts at $1,499, and the 12-core model is the one for work desks
Apple's M6 iMac adds cores, Wi-Fi 7 and 2.5Gb Ethernet at unchanged prices, but the base model keeps two ports.
Hardware · Macfolio · 28 October 2026
Apple announced a new 24-inch iMac with the M6 chip on October 27, 2026. Pre-orders open today, October 28, and deliveries and in-store availability start Friday, November 6. Prices are unchanged from the M4 model after Apple's June increase: $1,499 for the 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU model and $1,699 for the 12-core version in the U.S.
Two very different iMacs
The design, 4.5K display, and seven colors carry over. What you get depends heavily on which model you pick:
- 10-core model: 16GB memory (24GB max), 256GB SSD (1TB max), two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, one external display, Ethernet as an option.
- 12-core model: 16GB memory (32GB max), 256GB SSD (2TB max), four Thunderbolt 4 ports, up to two external displays, 2.5Gb Ethernet and Touch ID standard.
Both use Apple's N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The Ethernet port is still built into the power adapter, now at 2.5Gb instead of 1Gb. MacRumors reports it is a $30 option on the 10-core model. Apple also claims up to 2x faster SSD performance than the M4 iMac and up to 5x faster on-device AI prompt processing.
Who should care
The base model now starts with 10 CPU and 10 GPU cores, up from 8 and 8 on M4, at the same price. That is a real gain for offices and front desks. Owners of Intel iMacs get the largest leap: Apple claims up to 18x the performance of the most popular Intel model.
M4 iMac owners have little reason to move. The design is the same, and the color lineup has not changed in five years, as MacRumors noted.
This does not mean a larger iMac or iMac Pro is coming; Apple has said nothing about one.
Our take: buy the 12-core model if you plan to keep it for years. The extra ports, display support, and Ethernet matter more on a desk than the chip benchmark.
Caveats: performance figures are Apple's own claims from its October 2026 testing, and 256GB of storage is tight for most work machines.