Apple M6 Vs. M5 Chip: What's New In The Next Generation?
Apple’s M6 chip represents a major step forward in Apple’s silicon roadmap, moving from the M5’s third-generation 3nm process to a new 2nm architecture. Introduced with the new Mac mini, the M6 comes with a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine, while the M5 features a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU and a single 16-core Neural Engine. Apple claims the M6 can deliver up to 1.2x the multithreaded CPU performance of the M5, while its GPU provides nearly 30% more peak AI compute. Memory bandwidth also increases to as much as 170GB/s, although 16GB M6 Mac mini configurations continue to operate at 153GB/s. The M5 established a stronger foundation for on-device AI by adding Neural Accelerators to its GPU cores, alongside a 16-core Neural Engine and 153GB/s memory bandwidth. The M6 expands this AI-focused approach with additional processing resources and a second 16-core Neural Engine, which Apple says can provide up to twice the peak compute of the previous generation. Th...