DistantNews
Support us
Apple Unveils 'Mac Mini' with M6, M5 Pro Chips, Boosting AI Performance Up to 4x; Prices Rise Sharply
🇰🇷 South Korea /Technology

Apple Unveils 'Mac Mini' with M6, M5 Pro Chips, Boosting AI Performance Up to 4x; Prices Rise Sharply

From Dong-A Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Apple has unveiled its new Mac Mini models equipped with the M6 and M5 Pro chips, significantly boosting on-device AI performance.
  • The new Mac Mini models offer up to four times the AI performance of previous M4-equipped versions, with graphics and storage speeds doubled.
  • Prices for the base models have increased substantially due to rising memory chip costs, with the M6 version starting at 1.499 million won.

Apple has launched its latest Mac Mini, featuring the new M6 and M5 Pro chips designed to enhance on-device artificial intelligence capabilities. The new models promise a significant leap in AI performance, with the M6 chip delivering up to four times the AI processing power compared to its predecessor, the M4.

Graphics and storage speeds have also seen a twofold increase. The M6-equipped Mac Mini boasts a 40% boost in CPU performance. Notably, Apple has integrated a 'Neural Accelerator' into each GPU core for the first time in the Mac Mini lineup, further strengthening its ability to run local AI models and AI agents directly on the device.

Memory market prices appear to continue to rise after September, and this could increasingly affect our business.

— Tim CookApple CEO Tim Cook commented on the rising memory chip prices and their potential impact on the company's financial results.

Despite the performance upgrades, the price of the base model has seen a considerable rise. The M6-powered Mac Mini, with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, starts at 1.499 million won in South Korea. This represents a roughly 68% increase from the previous M4 Mac Mini with the same specifications, which was priced at 890,000 won.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously indicated that rising memory chip prices would impact the company's business, describing the memory market situation as a "once-in-a-century flood." The M5 Pro variant, targeted at more demanding tasks like video production and large-scale AI model operation, starts at 2.99 million won.

A once-in-a-century flood.

— Tim CookApple CEO Tim Cook described the memory supply shortage in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog