Apple unveils M6-powered MacBook Pro and iMac without raising prices

Apple has unveiled a new range of Mac computers powered by its latest M6 chip but held its pricing, as it gears up for the expected debut of its first touchscreen MacBook this week.

The iPhone-maker revealed a refreshed MacBook Pro and iMac desktop, whose M6 processor has been optimised to handle more complex artificial intelligence tasks, the California-based company said in separate statements on Tuesday.

The M6, Apple’s first 2-nanometre chip announced in August, has a larger 12-core processor, 12-core GPU and dual 16-core Neural Engine. It was launched alongside the M5 Ultra.

The term 2-nanometre chip is not literal, but rather a label given to the latest generation of processors that are processed to pack in more transistors, and is faster and more powerful compared to previous iterations.

Apple said the new 14-inch (35.6cm) MacBook Pro is up to 13 times faster than previous M chips and its GPU is capable of 30 per cent faster graphics and 25 per cent quicker AI workloads compared to the M5.

The company is positioning the MacBook Pro “for a wide range of users – from college students, to business professionals across every industry, to multidisciplinary creators”, Shelly Goldberg, Apple’s vice president of hardware engineering, said in a statement.

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The latest iMac, meanwhile, has up to 12 times faster on-device AI performance “so users can run powerful AI models”, Apple said. The company last released an iMac in 2024 that ran on an M4, skipping an M5 version.

“The new iMac has everything users need to run their businesses, manage their lives and bring their ideas to life,” Ms Goldberg said.

Apple, however, maintained the prices for its latest products. In the UAE, the new MacBook Pro and iMac start at Dh8,499 and Dh6,499, respectively - on a par with their predecessors after Apple raised the prices in July.

After years of largely resisting price hikes, Apple had acknowledged that it had “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products” as, like other big names in tech, it was forced to cave in to soaring chip costs,

The new products come in the lead-up to Apple's expected announcement of its first touchscreen MacBook at its Pro and Tell event on Wednesday, as it winds down its 2026 product cycle.

The touchscreen MacBook would be the second major hardware revamp under new chief executive John Ternus, following the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable smartphone.

Also on Tuesday, Apple announced new AI tools for its Creator Studio, in a bid to assist creators and professionals.

The AI updates to Creator Studio, which includes video creator Final Cut Pro and image editor Pixelmator Pro, will be available as a free update for existing subscribers in November.