iMac

The iMac is Apple's most iconic desktop machine, and the latest model has a 24-inch display and an M6 chip. The iMac is Apple's only desktop Mac with a built-in display.

Apple updated the iMac in October 2026, adding a faster M6 chip and an upgraded SSD, which means now is a good time to buy.

Pricing on the iMac starts at $1,499 for a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. There's also a $1,699 model with a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU.

Apple does not have an iMac with a larger display, but it does sell other desktop options, including the Mac mini and the Mac Studio. The Mac Studio is equipped with faster chips for more demanding work, but it is much more expensive, so the Mac mini may be the best alternative. The Mac mini starts $899, and the Mac Studio starts at $2,499.

Apple refreshed the 24-inch iMac in October 2026, introducing a faster M6 chip with up to 2× faster graphics performance and 2× faster AI compute than the M4.

The M6 chip is Apple's first 2-nanometer chip. In the iMac, the M6 can be configured with a 10-core CPU and GPU, or a 12-core CPU and GPU. The 10-core model has 2 super cores, 3 performance cores, and 5 efficiency cores. The 12-core model has 2 super cores, 4 performance cores, and 6 efficiency cores.

You can get the iMac with up to 32GB unified memory, though it starts with 16GB unified memory. The iMac supports up to 170GB/s memory bandwidth, up from 120GB/s in the M4 model. The M6 offers hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading. There's also a media engine and an upgraded dual 16-core Neural Engine.

Apple made no external design changes to the M6 iMac. The machine continues to feature a body that is just 11.5 millimeters thick, and there is a slim stand that allows the angle of the display to be adjusted. Apple is selling the iMac in multiple bright colors, including blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green, and silver. There were no new colors added in 2026, so these are the same colors Apple offered in 2024.

The iMac's 24-inch 4.5K display features a resolution of 4480-by-2520, with 11.3 million pixels, 500 nits brightness, P3 wide color, more than a billion colors, and True Tone to match the color temperature of the display to the ambient lighting for a more natural viewing experience.

Nano-texture glass is available as an upgrade option, with nano-texture providing a matte look that cuts down on glare. With the nano-texture add-on option, Apple also includes a polishing cloth.

Apple's M6 iMac includes a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera with support for Desk View, and 1080p HD video recording. The M6 chip includes an image signal processor with computational video to cut down on noise, improve white balance, and offer better dynamic range.

The iMac also offers three studio-quality microphones and a six-speaker sound system with strong bass and clear mids and highs thanks to force-cancelling woofers, along with support for Dolby Atmos and spatial audio.

There are two Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 ports at the back of the iMac, along with two additional USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports for the higher-end models. The model with a 10-core CPU and GPU supports a single 6K external display, while the 12-core model supports up to an 8K external display at 60Hz or two external 6K displays at 60Hz.

The iMac has a headphone jack at the side that has support for high-impedance headphones, plus there is a 2.5Gb/s Ethernet port available in the power adapter for the higher-end model, allowing for a less cluttered cable setup. The iMac has Apple's N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7 for fast performance, and it supports Bluetooth 6. It can be customized with up to 2TB of SSD storage.

The iMac comes with color-matched accessories with custom colors available for the USB-C Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, power cord, and USB-C to USB-C cable for charging the accessories. Apple sells the iMac with a matching Magic Keyboard, with or without a number pad.

The Magic Keyboard features a wireless Touch ID implementation, using a dedicated security component on the keyboard that communicates directly with the Secure Enclave in the M6 for quick unlocking or making Apple Pay purchases.

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Pre-orders for the M6 iMac started on Wednesday, October 28 at 10:10 a.m. Pacific Time. It will launch on November 6.

The 2026 iMac has the same compact and thin chassis as the prior-generation iMac, with no design changes. The body of the all-in-one machine is 11.5mm thick, and it has a slim side profile.

The iMac has thicker bezels than most Macs, with a chin at the bottom that houses the hardware. A color-matched stand is included.

The iMac is 21.5 inches wide, while the base is 5.8 inches deep. The display and stand together are 18.1 inches tall, and the whole thing weighs 9.74 to 9.79 pounds depending on the model.

Color Options

The iMac comes in seven colors: green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver. There are softer colors and white borders on the front to allow users to focus on their on-screen content, while the back has a bolder color. There is also a power connector that attaches to the back of the iMac, along with a woven two-meter-long color-matched cable.

Display

The M6 iMac includes a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels, 500 nits of brightness, a P3 wide color gamut, and over a billion colors, with no major updates to the overall display technology.

The display uses True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the color temperature of the display as the environment changes for a more natural viewing experience. In addition, the 4.5K Retina display features Apple's standard anti-reflective coating.

iMac buyers can opt to upgrade to nano-texture glass, which cuts down on glare and lessens reflection.

Ports

All of the M6 iMacs include at least two Thunderbolt 4 ports for connecting external devices.

The iMac configuration with a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU offers two additional Thunderbolt 4 ports and also features a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port in the power adapter, allowing for a less cluttered desktop.

The power adapter with Ethernet port is available as an add-on option for the lower-end iMac, but there is no option to purchase the additional two ports, so the four-port setup is limited to the higher-end model.

The lower-end iMac with two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 10-core CPU/GPU supports full native resolution on the built-in display and one external display at up to 6K resolution at 60Hz. The higher-end model with 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU supports two external displays at up to 6K resolution at 60Hz, or a single external display with an 8K resolution at 60Hz.

There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left-hand side of the machine for wired audio, with support for high-impedance headphones.

The iMac uses Apple's M6 chip, which is built on a 2-nanometer process. It's faster than the 3-nanometer M4 chip used in the prior-generation model. There are two options available: one with a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, and one with a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU.

Apple's 10-core iMac has 2 super cores, 3 performance cores, and 5 efficiency cores. The 12-core model has 2 super cores, 4 performance cores, and 6 efficiency cores, with both models adopting three CPU core types instead of two.

The CPU has two more cores than before and offers the "world's fastest single-threaded CPU performance" according to Apple.

There's a dedicated Neural Accelerator for every GPU core, along with updated Dynamic Caching. Apple says ray-tracing gaming performance is up to 2× higher, prompt processing in LM studio is up to 5× faster, and photo editing in Affinity is up to 2× faster.

Neural Engine

There are two 16-core Neural Engines with a total of 32 cores, offering up to 2× faster AI compute than the prior-generation chip.

Media Engine

Apple includes a media engine in its Apple silicon chips to speed up video processing. The M6 offers dedicated acceleration for the ProRes video codec, along with video encode/decode engines and hardware-accelerated support for H.264, HEVC, and ProRes RAW.

Memory

The M6 uses a system-on-a-chip architecture with unified memory. All models start with 16GB RAM, and can be upgraded with 24GB or 32GB of RAM.

Memory bandwidth is up to 170GB/s, up from 120GB/s in the M4 iMac.

SSD

The stock configurations of the M6 iMac come with 256GB of storage, but users can configure them with up to 2TB of SSD storage.

The 2026 iMac chip supports PCIe 5.0 with up to 2× faster read and write performance.

Connectivity

The iMac has Apple's N1 networking chip with support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread. The prior-generation iMac was limited to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

FaceTime Camera

The M6 iMac has the same 12-megapixel front-facing camera as the prior-generation model. The camera supports Center Stage, a feature that automatically keeps users framed during video calls. Center Stage can pan to keep users in the shot as they move around, and it works with FaceTime and other video apps. It also supports 1080p video recording.

There's also a Desk View option that orients the camera to the desktop for showing tutorials.

Speakers

The iMac includes a six-speaker sound system. It has two pairs of force-cancelling woofers placed side by side for strong bass without unwanted vibrations. Each pair is balanced with a high-performance tweeter.

The speakers support Dolby Atmos and spatial audio.

Microphones

The iMac features a studio-quality three-microphone array for clearer calls and voice recordings. The mics are positioned to reduce feedback from the rest of the system, while directional beamforming allows them to better ignore background noise and focus on a user's voice.

Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad

The iMac comes with a color-matched Magic Mouse, and users can opt to upgrade to or add the color-matched Magic Trackpad.

Magic Keyboard

The M6 iMac comes with a Magic Keyboard, and the 12-core model features Touch ID. Touch ID on the iMac lets users securely log in, make purchases with Apple Pay, or switch user profiles with a tap.

Touch ID works wirelessly with a dedicated security component on the keyboard that communicates directly with the Secure Enclave in the M6 chip, creating an encrypted channel to protect users' fingerprint data from end to end.

Customers can choose from three models of Magic Keyboard with aluminum enclosures that are color-matched to the iMac, with options including Touch ID and a numeric keypad. The 10-core iMac comes with a standard non-Touch ID keyboard by default, which can be upgraded, while the $1,699 model's price includes the Touch ID keyboard option.

There are two stock 24-inch iMac models available from Apple:

• $1,499 - Apple M6 chip with 10-Core CPU and 10-Core GPU, 16GB memory, 256GB SSD, two Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 ports, and Magic Keyboard.
• $1,699 - Apple M6 chip with 12-Core CPU and 12-Core GPU, 16GB memory, 256GB SSD, four Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 ports, and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID.

Build-to-Order Options

Memory can be upgraded to 32GB and SSD storage can be upgraded to 2TB. There is also an option to choose an upgraded keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad.

The 12-core model can be ordered with a nano-texture display for an additional charge of $200.

Color-Matched Accessory Options

All M6 iMac configurations come with a color-matched Magic Mouse as standard, but users can opt to upgrade to the Magic Trackpad for an additional $50.

The 10-core iMac can be upgraded from the standard Magic Keyboard to the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for an additional $80. The 12-core model offers an option to upgrade to the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for an additional $30.

Apple is working on a 24-inch iMac with an OLED display. Some rumors suggest that it could come out as soon as 2027, but other rumors indicate the device won't launch until 2029 or 2030. Apple is apparently asking multiple suppliers for samples of OLED display panels.

OLED display technology offers deeper blacks with higher contrast, improved power efficiency, vivid colors, and other enhancements.

Apple could use an OLED display panel capable of displaying a wider range of colors for the OLED iMac. The panels would cover 95% of the BT.2020 color standard, which is a broader spectrum than the current DCI-P3 standard. It would result in more accurate reds, greens, and blues, and it would also bring improvements in energy efficiency.

The OLED iMac could have a five-layer panel structure from LG Display, with an extra layer included to cut down on image burn-in.