Apple tests Mac mini with M5 and M6 ahead of iPhone event

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Apple could release a new Mac mini "as soon as the coming days, potentially" ahead of next month's expected iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra event, according to a writeup at 9to5Mac.

Apple has "tested versions with both the M5 and M6 generations of its processor line," the report says, while the upcoming iMac refresh is set to use M6 only. The current desktop has been "a particular pain point for Apple's supply chain in recent months," with deliveries "taking weeks or months" and the demand surge tied in part to buyers "looking to run AI applications and models locally."

Production is slated to move to Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Center in Houston later in 2026. Tim Cook recently toured the site with Trump administration officials, and the facility is already being used to produce and ship the company's AI servers. It fits a run of edge-AI hardware stories we've been tracking where local inference is reshaping who buys what, alongside tooling like Cua's Metal shim lifting macOS VM llama.cpp to near bare-metal.