Apple unveils M6 and M5 Ultra chips: the Mac mini jumps to 2nm

Apple announced two new chips in late August: the M6, its first built on TSMC's 2-nanometer process, inside a redesigned Mac mini, and the M5 Ultra, a four-die monster chip powering the new Mac Studio.

M5 Ultra: Apple's biggest chip yet

Assembled using UltraFusion packaging, the M5 Ultra scales up to a 36-core CPU (12 super + 24 performance cores), an 80-core GPU and 512GB of unified memory in its top configuration. It's a spec sheet built for on-device AI, feeding directly into Core ML, Metal and Xcode.

An AI-first launch

Pre-orders opened on announcement day and both machines ship on September 22, 2026. Framed as a "big leap" in AI compute, the refresh steps well outside Apple's usual desktop cadence.

Source

• Tech Insider — Apple Doubles Down on AI: M6, M5 Ultra Ship Sept. 22 (via Apple Newsroom)