Apple refreshed its desktop line on August 25 without holding an event, and Filipino buyers did not have to wait to find out what it costs here. The new Mac mini now comes in M6 and M5 Pro versions starting at ₱64,990, while the Mac Studio steps up to M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips with local pricing from ₱169,990. Apple announced the new Mac mini and the new Mac Studio through its newsroom, with pre-orders open the same day and US deliveries starting September 22.
Mac mini M6: the first M6-generation Mac
The smallest Mac is the first machine to carry Apple's new M6 chip. The M6 has a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, with a Neural Accelerator built into each GPU core — extra circuitry that speeds up AI tasks. Apple says the M6 delivers up to 4x faster AI performance and 2x faster graphics and storage than the M4 generation, plus about 40 percent faster CPU performance.
The base model ships with 16GB of unified memory, configurable to 32GB, with 170GB/s of memory bandwidth. Connectivity moves to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, alongside three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, 2.5Gb Ethernet (10Gb optional), and two front USB-C ports.
The step-up Mac mini uses the M5 Pro, with up to an 18-core CPU, up to a 20-core GPU with third-generation ray tracing, up to 64GB of memory at 307GB/s, and three Thunderbolt 5 ports. Apple claims up to 8.5x faster LLM prompt processing — how quickly the machine reads long AI prompts — compared with the M2 Pro.
Mac Studio M5 Max and M5 Ultra: Apple's AI workstation play
The Mac Studio now tops out with the M5 Ultra, which AppleInsider reports is Apple's most powerful chip yet: up to a 36-core CPU, up to an 80-core GPU, and up to 512GB of unified memory with 1.2TB/s of bandwidth. Apple pegs its peak AI compute at up to 4.3x the M3 Ultra. The M5 Max configuration brings an 18-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of memory.
Philippine prices at a glance
| Model | PH price (from) | US price (from) |
|---|
| Mac mini M6 | ₱64,990 | $899 |
| Mac mini M5 Pro | ₱119,990 | $1,699 |
| Mac Studio (M5 Max) | ₱169,990 | $2,499 (around ₱154,000) |
| Mac Studio (M5 Ultra) | TBA | $5,499 (around ₱339,000) |
The ₱64,990, ₱119,990, and ₱169,990 figures are the official Philippine starting prices published on launch day. Apple has not yet announced a local availability date — US and first-wave deliveries begin September 22, with some high-end M5 Ultra configurations shipping in late October.
Should Filipino buyers wait for local stock?
Day-one peso pricing is unusual for an Apple refresh and makes planning easier for the freelancers, developers, and small studios that have made the Mac mini a popular home-office machine here. At ₱64,990, the M6 Mac mini undercuts most similarly specced mini PCs with this class of AI hardware, though the jump to ₱119,990 for the M5 Pro is steep if your work does not lean on video export or local AI models. The refresh also lands in the middle of a global memory shortage that has already squeezed Apple's supply chain — the same crunch behind the recent MacBook Air shortage in Apple Stores — so early local stock may be tight once availability is confirmed.
