Apple is currently selling six Mac models built on four different chip generations at once. Its newest chip, M6, ships in the cheapest desktop Apple sells, while the most expensive Mac Studio configuration runs a chip Apple announced on the very same day, but from an older generation.
None of this is hidden. It is spread across Apple’s own press releases for MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Mac Studio, none of which reference each other, which is likely why almost nobody has laid the whole lineup out in one place since the September 9 keynote pulled attention toward iPhone 18 Pro and the rest of that day’s lineup.
Key facts
| Mac | Chip | Starting price | On sale since |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacBook Neo | Apple silicon, not named | $599 | March 11, 2026 |
| MacBook Air | M5 | Apple has not published | March 11, 2026 |
| MacBook Pro 14-inch | M5 Pro or M5 Max | $2,199 | March 11, 2026 |
| MacBook Pro 16-inch | M5 Pro or M5 Max | $2,699 | March 11, 2026 |
| Mac mini | M6 or M5 Pro | $899 or $1,699 | September 22, 2026 |
| Mac Studio | M5 Max or M5 Ultra | $2,499 or $5,499 | September 22, 2026 |
The chip timeline behind every current Mac
| Chip | Announced | First Mac to ship it |
|---|---|---|
| M5 | October 15, 2025 | 14-inch MacBook Pro (also iPad Pro and Vision Pro) |
| M5 Pro / M5 Max | March 2026 | 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, March 11, 2026 |
| M6 | August 25, 2026 | Mac mini, September 22, 2026 |
| M5 Ultra | August 25, 2026 | Mac Studio, September 22, 2026 |
M5 Pro also appears twice on this table under two different products, six months apart: it launched in March’s MacBook Pro and returns as the upper Mac mini configuration in September, the same month iPhone 18 Pro introduced its own A20 Pro chip.
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The oddity: the newest chip is in the cheapest machine
Apple says M6 is built on its cutting-edge 2-nanometer process, its first chip on that process, and it launches inside the $899 Mac mini, the least expensive Mac on sale. The $5,499 Mac Studio, announced by Apple on the same day as M6, runs M5 Ultra instead, a chip built on the previous generation’s architecture. There is currently no M6 Ultra, so Apple’s most powerful and most expensive Mac is running an older-generation chip than its cheapest one.
Fusion Architecture and super cores
Apple introduced new vocabulary alongside M5 Pro and M5 Max in March. Its own quote: “M5 Pro and M5 Max are a monumental leap forward for Apple silicon, leveraging our new Fusion Architecture to scale the capabilities of Apple silicon while preserving its core tenets of performance, power efficiency, and unified memory architecture.” Apple has not published a standalone definition of Fusion Architecture beyond that framing.
Apple also began describing part of each CPU as “super cores.” M5 Pro and M5 Max each pair six super cores with 12 performance cores. M5 Ultra, announced in August, scales that to 12 super cores and 24 performance cores. Apple has not published a technical definition of what separates a super core from a performance core beyond the naming itself.
Where iMac fits, and what is missing
An M4 iMac remains part of Apple’s current Mac lineup: it appears on the eligibility list for Apple’s Apple Upgrade leasing program, alongside MacBook Air with M5, MacBook Pro with M5 and Mac Studio. Beyond that eligibility listing, Apple has not published new iMac specs, pricing or a 2026 announcement in the material reviewed here. Apple has also not published anything about Mac Pro in that material, so this lineup covers laptops, Mac mini and Mac Studio only, plus the one mention of iMac’s continued existence.
What Apple has not said
Apple has not published a starting price for MacBook Air with M5, has not named the chip inside MacBook Neo, and has not said whether M5 Ultra will be followed by an M6 Ultra or when. It has not published current specs or pricing for iMac or Mac Pro beyond the single Apple Upgrade mention, and it has not explained why Mac mini received the newer chip generation before Mac Studio did.
As of September 12, the newest configuration on this list, the 512GB Mac Studio, is still ten days from general sale and will not actually ship until late October. macOS 27, which every current Mac will eventually run, arrives this fall with no specific date yet attached.
