Apple's New 24-Inch iMac M6 Is Here: What's New and When Can You Buy It?

Apple has given its colourful all-in-one desktop a much-needed performance upgrade. The company has unveiled the new 24-inch iMac powered by its M6 chipset, bringing improvements in processing power, graphics performance, AI capabilities, and connectivity.

At first glance, the new iMac looks pretty much identical to its predecessor, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Apple has retained the familiar slim design, vibrant colour options, and 4.5K Retina display. However, there's considerably more happening under the hood this time around.

The new iMac starts at ₹1,74,900 in India, with pre-orders opening on October 28. Here's everything you need to know about Apple's latest all-in-one desktop.

Apple iMac M6: More Power Under the Hood

The biggest upgrade is undoubtedly Apple's M6 chipset, which replaces the M4 found in the previous-generation iMac.

Built using a 2nm manufacturing process, the M6 is available in configurations with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU or a more powerful 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU. The latter brings two additional CPU and GPU cores compared to the highest-end M4 configuration.

Apple claims the new chipset delivers up to twice the graphics performance of the M4 in certain workloads. That should come in handy for people who regularly edit photos, work on graphic design projects, or dabble in video editing. The company also promises up to twice the gaming performance with ray tracing, although we'll have to wait for independent testing to see how well that translates into actual games.

There's also a stronger focus on AI performance this time around. The M6 features Neural Accelerators in every GPU core, alongside a new Dual 16-core Neural Engine. According to Apple, the combination can deliver up to five times faster on-device AI performance in certain tasks compared to the M4.

For instance, users running local AI models through applications such as LM Studio could see a noticeable improvement when processing prompts. Apple also claims that everyday productivity tasks in applications like Microsoft Excel can run up to 1.5 times faster than on the M4 iMac.

The new iMac supports up to 32GB of unified memory, with memory bandwidth reaching 170GB/s. Storage performance has also received attention, with Apple promising up to twice the SSD read and write speeds of the previous generation.

Same Colourful Design, but With Better Connectivity

While Apple has made some substantial changes internally, the iMac's overall appearance remains familiar.

You still get a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with 500 nits of brightness, support for the P3 wide colour gamut, and over a billion colours. This should make it a particularly appealing option for people who want a sharp, colour-rich display without having to invest in a separate monitor.

The iMac also retains its seven colour options: Blue, Green, Pink, Yellow, Purple, Orange, and Silver.

Other familiar features include a 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View, a six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support, and a three-microphone array.

However, connectivity has received some welcome improvements.

The new iMac supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, alongside an optional 2.5Gb Ethernet connection. Apple claims the faster wired connection can deliver up to 2.5 times the Ethernet speeds of the previous model.

Depending on the configuration, buyers also get up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, with support for connecting as many as two external 6K displays. The iMac ships with macOS 27 Golden Gate, bringing Apple's more capable Siri AI assistant and additional Apple Intelligence features.

Siri can now help users find information across supported applications, answer questions about what's on their screen, and perform certain tasks across apps. Safari also gets features such as automatic tab organisation and notifications when tracked webpages change.

Apple iMac M6 Price and Availability in India

Apple is offering the new iMac M6 in two primary configurations in India.

The entry-level model, featuring a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, starts at ₹1,74,900. Eligible students and educators can purchase it for ₹1,68,900. Meanwhile, the more powerful version with a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU starts at ₹1,99,900, or ₹1,87,900 with education pricing.

Pre-orders begin on October 28 at 10:40 PM IST through Apple's official website and the Apple Store app. The new iMac will be available starting November 6 through Apple Stores and authorised retailers.

As for whether you should upgrade, that largely depends on which iMac you're currently using.

For users coming from an older Intel-powered model or even the M1 generation, the M6 promises a significant jump in performance. Apple claims certain workloads can run up to 18 times faster than on popular Intel-based iMac configurations.

However, if you already own an M4 iMac, the decision isn't quite as straightforward. The new model brings better performance and connectivity, but with the display and design largely unchanged, the improvements may not be compelling enough for everyone to upgrade immediately.