Here’s what to expect for the 2026 iMac

Earlier this week, Apple officially sent out invites for its upcoming “Pro and tell” launch event, where we expect Apple to unveil several new Macs as well as the iPad mini. One of the products we expect to see then is the iMac. As you know, the iMac has been Apple’s all-in-one desktop that’s perfect for the home. Since it was last updated on October 28, 2024, with the M4 chip, it’s certainly overdue for an update. In fact, since the rest of the lineup has been upgraded to an M5 chip or newer, this will be the last Mac in the current lineup to get updated with a more modern chip. Without further ado, here’s everything to expect for the 2026 iMac models.

Note that some of these details have not been official yet; they’re just pure speculation based on current rumors and patterns from other Apple products.

Chip

The most obvious spec upgrade has to be the chip, and the 2026 iMac models are expected to feature the latest M6 chip that debuted in the Mac mini a couple of months back. Since the M6 chip is one of Apple’s first 2nm chips, this means substantial performance and power efficiency improvements overall. As you may know, Apple has had two variants of the iMac that could be differentiated by the number of Thunderbolt ports.

The two-port model uses a binned M-series chip, while the four-port model uses the full-fledged M-series chip. Based on this pattern, the four-port model is expected to feature the full-fledged M6 chip with 12 CPU cores (2 super cores / 4 performance cores / 6 efficiency cores) and 12 GPU cores. The two-port model will likely feature some binned variant of the M6 chip, like one with either fewer CPU or GPU cores. For comparison, the two-port M4 model features an M4 chip that has 2 fewer CPU and 2 fewer GPU cores compared to that on the four-port model. Additionally, the M6 chip will bring Neural Accelerators and a dual 16-core Neural Engine to the iMac for the first time. The M6 chip will also enable faster memory bandwidth (153GB/s on the M6 vs. 120GB/s on the M4).

Connectivity

Many Mac models have recently adopted Apple’s in-house networking chips that integrate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread technology, and I’d expect the next iMac to adopt the N1 wireless networking chip. This means the iMac will feature Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread for the first time.

As previously mentioned, Apple offers two distinct variants of the 24-inch iMac, and I’d expect the same port layout for both variants in this next iteration. The lower-end variant will likely continue to have two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, and the higher-end variant will likely continue to have four Thunderbolt 4 ports with speeds up to 40Gb/s. One feature I’d like to see is a faster Ethernet port. When Apple updated the Mac mini a few months ago, Apple upgraded the built-in Ethernet port to a faster one that supports 2.5Gb/s, so it’s possible that the next iMac will feature a faster Ethernet port that’s built into the power adapter as well. I don’t expect that port to be configurable to 10Gb/s, though. Keep in mind that Ethernet is an optional upgrade for the two-port model, but it is standard on the four-port model, so I’d expect the same differentiation on the next iMac models.

Design

Since this next iteration will likely be just a simple spec bump, I would expect the design to remain identical. This means the next iMac will continue to feature the same 24-inch Retina 4.5K Display that uses LCD technology. There have been rumors that an iMac with an OLED display is in the works, but that product would be further down the road, likely around 2028. Also, the four-port model can be configured to a nano-texture display for reduced glare, so I’d expect this option to stay exclusive to the four-port models.

Earlier this year, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg suggested that the next iMac could feature new colors from the current iMac. Both the M1 and M3 models came in seven colors: blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green, and silver. But for the M4 iteration, Apple tweaked all of those colors to be more vibrant. It’s unclear what the new colors will be for the M6 iteration. Maybe Apple could bring some colors that are closer to those offered in the MacBook Neo that Apple launched earlier this year. Although the new colors remain to be seen, Max Tech suggested that since Apple just refreshed the HomePod mini with new colors last week, the next iMac could offer some colors that would closely match those on the HomePod mini 2. For what it’s worth, I hope Apple doesn’t offer fewer color options for the M6 iMac. After all, the six colors + silver color palette is what really makes the iMac more personal, in my opinion. Yet again, Apple did move on from the “rainbow” colorful scheme for the iMac G3 to other bolder (and later psychedelic) shades. So I would understand if Apple had to offer fewer color choices to reduce production costs overall.

Accessories

The iMac includes these color-matching Magic Keyboard, the Magic Mouse, and the USB-C cable to charge both of those Magic accessories. The two-port model includes the Magic Keyboard (with Lock key), and the four-port model includes the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, but both models can be configured to the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad. Additionally, all iMac models can be configured to the Magic Trackpad if you prefer the full range of multi-touch gestures.

I expect the M6 iMac to include or be configured with those accessories mentioned above, but there will be one slight change. As we saw earlier this year, Apple changed the side keys to show the glyphs in place of the words on the built-in Magic Keyboard on the 2026 MacBook models (at least in the U.S.). Apple also made this change to the wireless Magic Keyboards that are sold separately, so based on that, the Magic Keyboard that’s bundled with the iMac will certainly follow suit.

Additionally, back in December 2024, Mark Gurman said that Apple was planning to actually redesign the Magic Mouse this time, as some people have complained about its poor ergonomics, low profile, and odd charging port placement. Although there haven’t been any new rumors since, we could at least see the USB-C port moved to the front of the mouse, so you could still use it while charging simultaneously. The redesigned Magic Mouse could also feature haptic feedback and an ergonomic design, which would certainly go after Logitech’s MX Master series. Of course, all the Magic accessories and the complimentary USB-C cable will continue to be color-matched to the iMac that you choose.

Pricing & Availability

When the iMac was last updated to the M4 chip, it started at $1,299 and $1,499 for the two-port and four-port models, respectively. After the price hike in June, they now start at $1,499 and $1,699, respectively. However, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Apple raised the starting price again by at least $100. After all, when Apple updated the base Mac mini with the M6 chip, the starting price went up by $100 from $799 to $899. Even Apple raised the prices for both the HomePod mini and the Apple TV last week. Therefore, the new M6 iMacs could start at least at $1,599. I sure hope that the new iMac will start with 512GB of storage even if it means raising the starting price even higher. After all, the MacBook Air bumped the default storage from 256GB to 512GB earlier this year, and 256GB of internal storage on a desktop is a joke since that’s really just not enough storage for the files and apps you could access every day. Going from 256GB to 512GB on the M6 Mac mini would set you back $200, so if the M6 iMac were to start with 512GB, then the starting price could be around $1,799. You’d be paying a heavy premium to get a stunning all-in-one design that’s performant enough for everyday use. But is it worth the price? That’s up to you if you value an all-in-one setup instead of a modular one.

For memory and storage configurations, I’d expect those options to remain the same for both of the iMac models with the 16GB memory being the default and the 32GB being exclusive to the four-port model. Since the M5 MacBook Air has a new 4TB storage option, we could see that option on at least the four-port model (of the iMac).

In terms of availability, Apple could announce the M6 iMac between October 26 and October 28, and pre-orders should follow around October 28 if not earlier. I’d expect the new iMac to hit stores and be available to customers starting on Friday, November 6, along with the other upcoming Macs and iPad mini that we’re going to talk about the details of what to expect in the coming days.

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