TL; DR
- Apple has launched the new Mac mini with the M6 and M5 Pro, skipping M5 for the base model.
- The M6 model gets a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, 170GB/s memory bandwidth, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and 2.5Gb Ethernet.
- The M5 Pro version goes up to an 18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 64GB of memory, and Thunderbolt 5.
- Prices start at $899 in the US and ₹99,900 in India, a major increase over the M4 Mac mini. Pre-orders are open now, with sales beginning September 22.
Apple has launched its new Mac mini, and the biggest surprise is sitting inside the box. The base model has jumped straight from the M4 to the M6, while the higher-end version gets the M5 Pro.
The design remains unchanged from the M4 generation. It’s still the same small 5-by-5-inch desktop, so you won’t be able to tell the new model apart just by looking at it. Most of the changes are inside, including the new chips, faster memory, newer wireless connectivity, and faster Ethernet.
Pre-orders start today, August 25, and the new Mac mini will reach customers and Apple Stores on September 22.
Price and Availability
The M6 Mac mini starts at $899 in the US, while the M5 Pro version starts at $1,699. Education pricing starts at $799 and $1,599, respectively.
In India, the M6 model starts at ₹99,900, while the M5 Pro starts at ₹2,09,900. Education pricing brings those prices down to ₹88,900 and ₹1,97,900.
That’s a huge increase from the M4 Mac mini’s original pricing. The M4 started at $599 in the US and ₹59,900 in India. Apple later raised the India price to ₹94,900 in May 2026, and the new M6 still comes in another ₹5,000 higher.
What’s New Compared With the M4 Mac mini?
The outside looks the same, but quite a bit has changed underneath.
M6 instead of M5: Apple has skipped the M5 for the base Mac mini and gone straight to the M6. The chip has a 12-core CPU, compared with 10 cores on the M4.
New GPU design: The M6 has a 12-core GPU, with a Neural Accelerator in every core. This is one of the bigger changes inside the new machine and should help with graphics-heavy workloads as well as tasks that rely on Apple’s machine-learning software.
New Neural Engine: A dual 16-core Neural Engine has been added to the M6. Apple says it can be up to twice as fast as the previous generation.
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Faster memory: Memory bandwidth rises from 120GB/s on the M4 to 170GB/s on the M6. The M5 Pro reaches 307GB/s, up from 273GB/s on the M4 Pro.
Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6: Both new models move to the newer wireless standards.
2.5Gb Ethernet: The faster Ethernet connection is now standard on the M6. A 10Gb option is available as an upgrade. The base M4 came with Gigabit Ethernet.
Genlock: USB-C Genlock support has been added, which can be useful for setups that need precise synchronization between cameras and displays.
Better headphone support: The front headphone jack can now handle high-impedance headphones.
Thunderbolt 5: The M5 Pro gets three Thunderbolt 5 ports. The M6 keeps three Thunderbolt 4 ports.
The price increase is probably the change most buyers will notice. The M6 starts $300 above the original M4 price in the US and ₹40,000 higher in India.
Mac mini With M6: Specifications
The M6 has a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU. The base model comes with 16GB of unified memory, with 32GB available as an upgrade. Memory bandwidth reaches 170GB/s.
Apple claims up to 40% faster CPU performance than the M4 Mac mini. Graphics and storage can be up to twice as fast, while Apple’s own testing shows up to a 4x improvement in certain machine-learning workloads.
Those numbers come from Apple’s internal testing, so I’d wait for independent benchmarks before drawing any conclusions about the real-world difference. The jump from M4 to M6 should be noticeable, though, especially in heavier workloads.
Mac mini With M5 Pro
The M5 Pro version is where things get much more serious. It can be configured with an 18-core CPU, a 20-core GPU, and up to 64GB of unified memory.
The GPU also gets an updated shader core and third-generation ray tracing. Memory bandwidth reaches 307GB/s.
Apple is targeting this version at people doing heavier work such as video editing, image processing, software development, and large local workloads. The company claims big gains over the M2 Pro and M4 Pro Mac mini, although those numbers will need to be checked independently.
The M5 Pro also gets Thunderbolt 5, which can be used to connect multiple Mac minis for larger workloads. That’s a fairly niche feature, although it could be useful for developers and businesses running several machines together.
Connectivity and Ports
Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 are included on both models. The M6 gets 2.5Gb Ethernet as standard, with 10Gb Ethernet available as a paid upgrade. The M5 Pro gets the same options.
Two USB-C ports and the headphone jack sit on the front. Three Thunderbolt 4 ports are placed on the back of the M6, while the M5 Pro gets three Thunderbolt 5 ports. HDMI and Ethernet are also located on the rear.
Genlock support has been added over USB-C, including support for setups that use the iPhone 17 Pro as a camera.
Our Take on the M6 Mac mini
The new Mac mini is a much bigger hardware upgrade than its unchanged design would suggest. The M6 brings a new CPU and GPU, faster memory, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and 2.5Gb Ethernet to the base model. Those are useful upgrades for a machine that people often keep for several years.
The price is where Apple has made things much harder to justify. The Mac mini used to be the obvious entry point into the Mac lineup. At ₹99,900, that argument has become much weaker. The base model still comes with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, which is especially disappointing at this price.
Apple really should have moved the base storage to 512GB. A 256GB SSD on a ₹1 lakh desktop in 2026 feels stingy, especially when storage upgrades on Macs are notoriously expensive.
The M5 Pro is easier to understand. With up to 64GB of memory, a 20-core GPU, and Thunderbolt 5, there’s plenty here for people who actually need that extra performance.
For everyone else, the M6 Mac mini will come down to the street price. The hardware has moved forward, but the ₹99,900 starting price makes this a very different proposition from the Mac mini we got with the M4.
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