Apple’s new M6 adds feature previously exclusive to high
Apple's new M6 chip, debuting in the Mac mini, introduces a three-tier core architecture previously reserved for higher-end Pro and Max chips. This upgrade includes 'super,' 'performance,' and 'efficiency' cores, marking a significant advancement for base-model Apple silicon.
Why it matters
The democratization of high-end processing power in base-model hardware impacts consumer purchasing decisions and computing performance standards.
Apple’s next-generation M6 chip is here, debuting first in the new Mac mini . And among its powerful upgrades, M6 gets a new feature previously exclusive to higher-end chips like M5 Pro and Max.
Apple silicon continues advancing in big ways, and this week brought the latest evidence of that : M6 and the M5 Ultra.
Both chips offer innovations in their own ways. For example, M5 Ultra offers Apple’s first quad-die architecture, and M6 is the first 2 nanometer chip.
M6 also has a Pro-level upgrade in the type of CPU cores it has. It offers 12 cores total:
Historically, Apple’s chips have had only two cores: performance and efficiency. But that changed with the M5 Pro and M5 Max earlier this year.
Apple rebranded its previous ‘performance’ cores as ‘super cores.’ Then added a third, brand new type of core that assumed the ‘performance’ name.
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