Top Stories: Apple's 'Surprise and Shine' Event, Plus New Mac mini and Mac Studio - MacRumors
Apple this week announced the next-generation Mac mini, which can be configured with an all-new M6 chip or the M5 Pro chip released earlier this year. The M6 chip has up to 170GB/s memory bandwidth, up from 153GB/s for the M5 chip. As a result of the Apple TV price increase, the Apple One Individual bundle has also gone up in price.
It turned out to be a big week for Apple news this week, as we not only got an official announcement about the upcoming iPhone event but also several hardware announcements including updated Mac mini and Mac Studio models.
Anticipation continues to build for Apple's first foldable iPhone coming at next month's event, while subscribers to the Apple TV streaming service are getting hit with another price increase, so read on below for all of the details.
Apple this week announced that it plans to hold its annual iPhone-centric event on Wednesday, September 9, at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. The event will begin at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, with select members of the media invited to attend.
The September 2026 iPhone event comes with the tagline "Surprise and Shine" and should see Apple announce the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the foldable iPhone, which could be called the iPhone Ultra. There won't be an iPhone 18 this year because Apple is waiting until spring 2027 to launch the more affordable models.
Apple this week announced the next-generation Mac mini, which can be configured with an all-new M6 chip or the M5 Pro chip released earlier this year.
The M6 chip is equipped with a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, up from a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU in the M5 chip. In addition, the M6 chip features the first-ever dual Neural Engine with two 16-core engines, up from one in previous chips. The M6 chip has up to 170GB/s memory bandwidth, up from 153GB/s for the M5 chip.
Apple said the Mac mini with the M6 chip delivers up to 40% faster CPU performance, up to 4× faster performance for AI tasks in particular, up to 2× faster graphics performance, and up to 2× faster storage speeds compared to the previous-generation model with the 10-core M4 chip, 32GB of unified memory, and 2TB of storage.
Alongside the updated Mac mini, Apple also announced new Mac Studio models with the M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, the latter of which is the company's most powerful chip ever.
The new Mac Studio features a next-generation SSD architecture built on PCIe Gen 6 that Apple says is up to twice as fast as before. The machine also gains Thunderbolt 5 ports with up to 120Gb/s of bandwidth, along with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 for the first time via Apple's N1 chip. The new Mac Studio also supports genlock over USB-C and can drive up to eight displays.
The M5 Ultra chip includes an up to 36-core CPU that contains 12 super cores and 24 performance cores. It delivers up to 1.25x higher single-threaded performance and up to 1.3x higher multithreaded performance than the M3 Ultra from the previous generation Mac Studio.
Apple this week also updated one of its most meme-worthy products in recent years, with a new version of its Polishing Cloth. It might be just a hint softer and thinner, and it's priced at just $9, half the price of the original one.
Most of Apple's Magic Keyboards for Mac also got updates for the U.S. English versions this week, replacing text labels on edge keys like tab, caps lock, shift, return, and more with glyphs.
Apple's upcoming foldable "iPhone Ultra" is winning over the few people who have had hands-on time with the device, though the camera setup may leave some users wanting, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Writing in his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman says people who have used the device – which is reportedly referred to internally as the iPhone Ultra – like how it fits in your pocket, as well as the feel and durability of its hinge mechanism. Testers have also apparently praised the new iPad-like app layouts that take advantage of the larger internal display when the phone is unfolded.
Beyond productivity, video, and gaming, Gurman says Apple's foldable device also performs well as a camera viewfinder. However, the device lacks a telephoto lens, which could cost Apple some sales given the expected price.
For the fourth time since its launch, Apple has increased the price of its Apple TV streaming service in the United States, raising monthly pricing by $2 and annual pricing by $20 starting today. As a result of the Apple TV price increase, the Apple One Individual bundle has also gone up in price.
Apple TV also received a price increase in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico today, according to Apple, but no other countries are affected in this round of increases.
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