Apple unveils 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 AI boost

The M6 chip's architecture, including a dual 16-core Neural Engine and additional neural accelerators in its GPU, directly supports on-device AI processing. This focus enables the MacBook Pro to handle local AI tasks and features like Siri AI, Apple Intelligence, and Visual Intelligence within macOS 27 Golden Gate. Apple reports AI workloads are up to 25 percent faster than the previous M5 chip, and up to 13 times faster for those transitioning from an M1-equipped 13-inch MacBook Pro.

This emphasis on local processing is intended to allow large language models to run directly on the device, which Apple indicates helps preserve user privacy by reducing reliance on cloud services. The AI integration extends across the operating system, with Siri AI leveraging personal context from messages and photos. New features in Safari, for instance, can organize tabs into topics or track website changes, while users can interact with on-screen content via Visual Intelligence through a dedicated keyboard shortcut.

Beyond AI, the M6 chip brings performance gains for professional applications. Apple cites up to 2.5 times faster project builds in Xcode, 3.3 times faster image processing in Affinity, and 11.7 times faster ray-tracing rendering in Blender, compared to the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1. The device also offers up to 24 hours of battery life, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and configurations up to 32GB of unified memory.