Apple Quietly Launched the M6 Mac Mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio, Here's What Changed
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Apple just did something it hasn't done in years, it released two new Macs without a keynote, a livestream, or a press event of any kind. On 25 August 2026, pre-orders quietly went live for a new Mac mini built around Apple's first 2nm chip and a Mac Studio with two new chip options, alongside a memory-shortage twist that's delaying the most powerful configuration until October.
What's new in the Mac mini
The Mac mini now ships with the M6 chip as its base configuration, Apple's first chip built on a 2nm process. Rather than launching an M6 Pro alongside it, Apple paired the new chip with the outgoing M5 Pro as the step-up tier. The base M6 Mac mini starts at $899 for 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, while the M5 Pro model starts at $1,699 for 24GB and 512GB.
What's new in the Mac Studio
The Mac Studio moves to M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips. The M5 Max model starts at $2,499 with 36GB of memory and 512GB of storage, while the M5 Ultra starts at $5,499 with 96GB and 1TB. Push the M5 Ultra to its maximum configuration, a 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU, plus 16TB of storage, and the price climbs to $18,299. Apple is positioning the M5 Ultra as its most powerful chip yet, capable of real-time 8K color grading, aimed squarely at video editors, 3D artists, and anyone running large local AI models.
The catch: the top Mac Studio configuration isn't shipping yet
Apple isn't taking pre-orders for one Mac Studio configuration: the M5 Ultra with 512GB of unified memory. That model is listed as coming late October, with pricing still unannounced. It's a small detail, but it lines up with a pattern worth watching, Apple spent the summer quietly trimming Mac shipments amid an industry-wide memory shortage, and the one configuration it can't ship yet is exactly the one that needs the most memory chips.
What this means if you're buying in the UAE
Most configurations are set to ship on 22 September 2026, with pre-orders now live in the US and more than 30 other countries and regions. On pricing, the base M6 Mac mini costs $300 more than the M4 mini's original 2024 launch price, but only $100 more than where Apple's June 2026 price increase left it in the UAE, so buyers who upgraded ahead of that hike are now further ahead than anyone buying fresh at launch. The step-up M5 Pro mini adds another $100 over the outgoing M4 Pro configuration.
The new lineup is already live at Florence Trading: the M6 Mac mini starts at AED 3,799 for 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, and the Mac Studio starts at AED 10,499 for the M5 Max configuration with 36GB and 512GB, both priced in AED with UAE warranty support and fast delivery across Dubai and Abu Dhabi. If you'd rather not wait for the M5 Ultra's October availability, or the pricing uncertainty that comes with an industry-wide memory shortage, both machines are ready to configure and order today.