Apple M6 Macs and OLED iPad mini may arrive after Nov 6 reset

Apple released two M6 Macs, a touchscreen MacBook Pro and a new iPad mini, all with the same November 6 availability date. Rather than save everything for one show, it spread the news across the week. The M6 MacBook Pro and the new iMac arrived by press release on October 27, the iPad mini was also announced ahead of the main event, and the touchscreen MacBook Pro closed things out at a “Pro and Tell” gathering in Los Angeles.

Here are the US starting prices:

• 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6: $1,999, or $1,899 with education pricing.
• 24-inch iMac with M6: $1,499 with two Thunderbolt ports, $1,699 with four.
• MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR touchscreen: $2,899 for the 14-inch and $3,399 for the 16-inch.
• OLED iPad mini: $699 for the 128GB Wi-Fi model.

So the store reset that a Bloomberg report flagged in October was exactly what it looked like: Apple clearing tables for a batch of new hardware.

The M6 models are the quiet upgrades in this batch, and probably the ones most people should look at first. The 14-inch MacBook Pro keeps its current design and Liquid Retina XDR screen but moves to a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, two more cores each than before.

Compared with the M5 version, Apple says graphics run as much as 30 percent quicker, with AI jobs gaining up to 25 percent. It also rates the laptop for up to 24 hours of battery life, which it calls the best it has ever offered in a Mac. Memory starts at 16GB and can go to 32GB, and wireless moves up to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. Apple did not raise the $1,999 starting price.

The iMac skips the M5 completely and jumps from M4 to M6. Its look, its seven colors and its 24-inch 4.5K screen are unchanged. Inside, Apple promises up to twice the graphics speed and up to five times faster on-device AI than the M4 model, and tests of the same chip in the Mac mini pointed to around 40 percent faster CPU performance. SSD speeds double thanks to PCIe 5.0, and Apple’s N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7.

The cheaper $1,499 iMac has 10 CPU and 10 GPU cores, two ports and a 24GB memory ceiling. The $1,699 model adds two more cores of each, four ports, up to 32GB of memory and a power adapter with faster 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, which is a $30 extra on the base model.

Early rumors grouped the OLED MacBook Pro with the M6 generation, but that isn’t what shipped. The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display uses the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips Apple put in its March models, paired with a redesigned cooling system that keeps hot air away from the screen.

What you’re paying for is the display and the build. The tandem OLED panel reaches 2,000 nits of peak brightness, refreshes at up to 120Hz and responds to your finger, so you can scroll, pinch to zoom or drag files directly on the glass. A small Dynamic Island replaces the notch, and the 14-inch model weighs three pounds while the 16-inch weighs four, both lighter than before.

That upgrade costs $400 more than the matching non-touch M5 models, which Apple keeps selling next to it. Prices across the industry are also being pushed up by an ongoing memory shortage, and a fully maxed 16-inch configuration runs to $14,569.

Apple’s smallest tablet got its biggest refresh in years. The new iPad mini moves to an 8.5-inch OLED screen with up to 1,200 nits of HDR brightness, runs the A20 Pro chip, and is thinner at 5.4mm and lighter at 255 grams. It is also the first iPad rated IP67 for water resistance, partly because its speakers now play through the display instead of through grilles.

The trade-offs are real. The screen still runs at 60Hz with no ProMotion, color choices shrink to Midnight and Starlight, and the battery is slightly smaller at 4,900mAh, although Apple still promises up to 10 hours of video or browsing. Price is the bigger sting: $699 to start, $200 above the previous model’s original launch price, and $1,249 for a fully loaded cellular model with nano-texture glass.

Canadian prices climb even more steeply in local dollars, so shoppers there feel the increase harder. The first reviews, published November 3, praised the screen and called it the best iPad mini so far, while asking who should spend that much on a small tablet.

For most buyers, the M6 machines are the sensible picks. A student or office worker gets the longest battery life Apple has ever rated in a Mac with the $1,999 MacBook Pro, and a family shopping for a desktop gets a real speed jump from the $1,499 iMac, which starts at the same price as the M4 model it replaces after that model’s June price increase.

The touchscreen MacBook Pro is built for photographers, video editors and anyone who wants the best laptop screen Apple sells. If you don’t need touch or OLED, the non-touch versions with the same chips cost $400 less.

If you already own an M5 MacBook Pro or last year’s iPad mini, there is little pressure to upgrade. Apple’s own figures put the M6 at up to 30 percent faster graphics than M5, and the touchscreen model shares its chips with laptops that were already on sale.

Orders placed since October 28 start arriving on Friday, and Apple Stores will have the new machines on display after the overnight reset. The M6 MacBook Pro launches in the US and 34 other countries and regions together, while the touchscreen MacBook Pro starts in 30 countries and regions. For touchscreen owners, Apple says apps such as Microsoft 365, Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve will get touch-specific updates later this year.