• Disney's new AI guide could make navigating Disneyland easier
• Works with Ray-Ban Metas, AirPods, and your iPhone
• Coming soon in beta for Magic Key holders through Imagineering Labs

When you're at a Disney park, or really any theme park, the idea is to be immersed in the experience, right? But there's also no sugarcoating the fact that a phone, especially one equipped with the Disneyland app, My Disney Experience for Walt Disney World, or any other park app, is pretty essential for planning and making the most of your day.

The app is essentially the brain of your visit, letting you check wait times for attractions, meet-and-greets, and other experiences, but also helping you find your way to food — I mean, we're all after a corn dog or a churro, right? — other services, and entertainment. But as we've heard from Disney Parks leaders in the past, constantly looking down at your phone can break the immersion.

Now, we're getting a glimpse at a potential alternative, and it's coming soon for a select group of Disneyland guests through a new Disney Imagineering app that's set to offer a rare peek behind the curtain.

Dubbed Imagineering Labs, the opt-in experience won't replace the main Disneyland app, but it will give guests the chance to try select experiences before they're fully developed or even guaranteed to launch. It's a pretty exciting approach, especially since feedback from guests could help shape what Imagineers ultimately bring to life.

The first experiment is an augmented reality Star Wars adventure called Secrets of the Spire, which is decidedly entertainment-focused and uses your iPhone's camera to overlay digital elements onto the environment and trigger physical reactions throughout Galaxy's Edge.

But the Disneyland Enchanted Guide is a bit more utility-focused, and it's seriously piquing my interest. It's an AI-powered assistant that lets you ask questions in natural language, like, 'Where's the nearest Dole Whip?' 'How long is the wait for Rise of the Resistance right now?' or whether you should come back later if the line is too long. It's also multimodal, meaning you can point your phone's camera at something in the park and ask about it.

Asa Kalama, Vice President and Executive Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering, described the thinking behind it to TechRadar: “Some of us are lucky enough to have that, you know, big Disney Parks fan as a friend, and there's no better park-going adventure than alongside them. They know all the tips, they know all the tricks, they can help you navigate your day. Well, what if we were able to provide that to every single guest that came to the park?”

And that's really the idea here. Rather than digging through menus or bouncing between different parts of an app, you can simply ask the Enchanted Guide and get an answer.

The interface is pretty neat, too. Rather than a traditional chatbot screen, the Enchanted Guide puts a familiar Disneyland map front and center, complete with attraction wait times and a glowing Mickey-shaped button at the bottom for asking questions. There are also buttons to type or use your camera, and the Guide can take into account your location, plans, and details you choose to share to make its recommendations more useful throughout the day.

It's using a combination of AI models to power the intelligence behind the Enchanted Guide, but there's been a whole host of customizations to make it feel uniquely Disney. Kalama explained that the team has worked to ensure the information comes from Disney's trusted sources, including real-time park information, and is delivered in a way that feels like the Disney voice, both literally and figuratively. From the pre-recorded preview I saw, it almost feels like chatting with a Cast Member you might stop on Main Street.

It gets even more interesting, though, when you can use another device to interact with it.

You might recall that at Meta Connect 2025, Disney Imagineering showed off an early tease of an experience at Disneyland using Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, letting guests look at their surroundings, ask questions, and hear responses through the glasses. And while that was just an early glimpse, the Disneyland Enchanted Guide is bringing that idea to life, letting you interact with Disney's new AI assistant without constantly reaching for your phone.

Essentially, you can connect the Disneyland Enchanted Guide within the Imagineering Labs app to compatible Meta smart glasses using Meta's Wearables Device Access Toolkit. Once that's enabled and you're rocking the shades, you can chat with the Guide through the glasses without necessarily needing to pull out your connected phone.

The Enchanted Guide can make use of the glasses' microphones, speakers, and cameras. That means you could look at an attraction, ask about it, and get real-time information without even knowing its name.

Speaking with TechRadar, Chris Barbour, Director, Content & Ecosystem, Meta, explained that the partnership with Disney Imagineering started with a pretty simple idea: “The best of keep me immersed, keep me not having to look down at my phone, but also give me all the advantages of the technology being present for me.”

As Chris explained, one of his favorite parts is “being able to look at an attraction and get real-time information about that,” with the Guide using what the camera sees to understand what you're asking about.

On paper, and without having tested it yet, that could be incredibly handy within the park.

For instance, Asa shared a few examples, from checking the current wait time for an attraction to something a little more useful, like getting an alert when that wait drops below a certain threshold.

“Can you let me know when Dumbo the Flying Elephant has a wait time of under 10 minutes?”

The Enchanted Guide could then deliver a notification when that condition is met, leaving you free to enjoy other parts of the park in the meantime.

Imagine if it could also remind you when your next Lightning Lane reservation is coming up or if a slot opens for an attraction you want to experience. That's the kind of functionality I'd love to see. While Asa didn't confirm either capability, he did note that some features, including actually making Lightning Lane reservations, still live within the core Disneyland app. For now, the Enchanted Guide can explain how Lightning Lanes work, but will send you over to the main app when it's time to book one.

“There are certain capabilities that are on our roadmap that aren't yet currently implemented,” Kalama explained.

And while the Meta Ray-Ban integration is especially interesting, you don't necessarily need smart glasses to go hands-free with the Enchanted Guide. Bluetooth earbuds, including Apple's AirPods, will also work, letting you keep your iPhone tucked away while exploring Disneyland. AirPods won't support multi-modal on their own, as they don't have cameras ... yet.

Of course, wearing camera-equipped smart glasses in the parks could raise some privacy concerns. Meta Ray-Ban glasses have a built-in capture LED that indicates when the camera is in use, but that might not be immediately obvious to everyone around you. Guests are already accustomed to seeing phones and earbuds throughout the parks, so just be prepared for some looks.

There will even be a dedicated wake word for the Enchanted Guide, though it's still being finalized ahead of launch. That means you won't need to pull out your phone and tap the Mickey-shaped microphone button every time you want to ask a question. I'm especially curious to see what Disney lands on for the wake word.

And given that this is an AI assistant capable of understanding images and voice prompts, privacy is another important consideration. Both prompts and images are processed and then deleted, and the Enchanted Guide doesn't support video. So while it can use a camera to understand what you're looking at, it isn't designed to continuously analyze a live video feed.

Of course, this is still an experiment, and there's plenty we don't know about how well it will all work. I'm especially curious to see how quickly the Enchanted Guide responds, how accurately it understands what's happening around you, and whether it really can make navigating Disneyland easier.

And we'll have to wait a little longer to find out.

The Disneyland Enchanted Guide is still listed as coming soon within Imagineering Labs, and when it does launch, it'll initially be limited to Disneyland Magic Key holders. The experience will live within the Imagineering Labs app, where you'll sign in with your Disney account. With an eligible Magic Key linked to your profile, you'll be able to access the Guide once it's available for testing.

There will likely be some bugs, hiccups, or slowdowns along the way, but that's part of the whole Imagineering Labs approach. Rather than waiting until an experience is completely finished, Disney is opening up the development process and letting guests help shape what comes next.

A wider rollout is planned, though there's no firm date just yet, and for now, this is very much a Disneyland-focused experience.

But the goal behind it all is one that I think makes a lot of sense.

As Kalama put it, “The goal here really is to keep you invested and engaged with the physical world around you and the friends and family that you've brought to the park, to get you out of your device and back to your vacation as quickly as possible.”

And that's what has me excited about the Disneyland Enchanted Guide. Disney isn't trying to replace the magic of being in the parks with another screen or another digital experience. Instead, it's exploring how technology can help you make the most of your day without constantly having to reach for your smartphone.

There's still plenty to prove, especially when it comes to how well the AI works in a busy, sometimes unpredictable theme park environment. But if Disney can pull this off, the Enchanted Guide could become the kind of park companion you don't realize you need until you've spent a day with it.

And if it means more time enjoying Disneyland and less time staring at my iPhone, I'm all for it.

• The Imagineering Labs app lets Disneyland guests test experimental experiences
• Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge gets an AR adventure featuring Leia
• Guest feedback will help Imagineers shape future Disney Parks experiences

If you’ve ever wanted to get a peek at what Disney Parks is building next — or even help Imagineers shape new experiences — the House of Mouse is starting to open up its creative process a bit more.

We’ve already had a glimpse behind the scenes with the Disney+ series We Call It Imagineering; and now, through a new app, select guests will be able to try new experiences before they’re fully signed, sealed, and delivered.

Asa Kalama, Vice President, Executive Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering, told TechRadar, “rather than waiting for an experience to be fully complete and polished, we're actually offering guests the opportunity to try out new experiences, whether they be entertainment-focused or maybe more utility in nature.”

It’s a different approach, and one Kalama was quick to note is new for Disney.

At its heart is a new Disney Imagineering Labs iOS app, which will sit alongside the already-available Disneyland Resort app. An Android app is coming at a later date, but for now you'll need an iPhone.

You’ll need to sign in with your Disney account, and initial access to the experiments within Imagineering Labs will be reserved for Disneyland Magic Key holders — essentially the resort’s annual passholders and some of its biggest fans. A broader rollout to other Disneyland guests is “coming soon,” though there’s no exact timeframe just yet.

The idea is that new experiences, or parts of them, will be available for guests to test while they're still in development. It's certainly exciting, especially for someone like me who's fascinated by how Imagineering blends technology and storytelling.

As Kalama explained, “We love this because it allows designers and project teams to get meaningful feedback while the paint is still wet.” It gives Imagineers the chance to make important decisions about what ultimately gets developed, shipped, or potentially scrapped. It’s also clear these aren’t finished experiences, and within the app you’ll get a sense of each project's phase, with labels ranging from 'Early development' to 'Taking shape' and 'Nearly complete.'

And while Disney isn't committing to a regular schedule of new experiments or updates, guest feedback will help Imagineers decide whether an idea is worth pursuing further, or if it's time to move on to something else.

A new Star Wars adventure

So, what's first? Well, we're heading to a galaxy far, far away, and an experience that seems pretty well thought-out. It also sees Disney heading back down the road of AR. Secrets of the Spire is a new augmented-reality experience that will take place inside Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland, specifically Black Spire Outpost, home to the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction and the TIE Echelon.

And if you've ever used the original Star Wars Datapad or enjoyed Batuu Bounty Hunters, this might sound familiar. Kalama even described it as “a spiritual successor to the Datapad experience that used to exist within the land,” calling it “the next chapter” of that adventure.

This time around, you'll receive a transmission from Leia Organa, who needs your help supporting the Rebellion. Your iPhone effectively becomes a pair of Star Wars quadnoculars (aka space binoculars), letting you track down signals across Black Spire Outpost, scan your surroundings, and slice into systems — essentially the Star Wars equivalent of hacking.

Rather than just standing and scanning with your phone, the experience is testing a more involved AR gameplay mechanic. Once you reach a location, your quadnoculars activate a scan mode that creates a grid-like mesh over the real-world environment, helping you hone in on the source of a transmission. From there, you'll reposition your device to locate the signal and begin slicing into a system, whether that's connected to a ship or a droid on land.

And there's a real-world ending here, too. As Kalama explained, “each of these slicing moments is then connected to a physical effect, so there's a physical payoff for that interaction.” In the preview I saw, successfully slicing into a droid brought it to life, with its head spinning in response.

You’ll play Spires of the Outpost in six locations throughout the land, potentially bridging classic attractions, shopping, or chatting with roaming characters. I like the notion of bridging digital and physical further in an already themed land, though.

And, in a particularly fun twist, you'll eventually get to decide whether to remain loyal to Leia and the Rebellion or betray her and side with the Empire. Depending on your choice, the experience culminates near either the Millennium Falcon or the TIE Echelon.

There is an important distinction here, though. Secrets of the Spire isn't a full-fledged adventure just yet. Disney describes this initial release as more of a prologue, designed to test a specific AR gameplay mechanic and learn how guests interact with it.

And the feedback Disney is looking for goes beyond whether you enjoyed the adventure. Kalama raised questions like, “Does it feel like there's too much plot? Is there not enough plot?” Imagineers are also interested in the difficulty and duration of the interactions, with those insights helping to inform subsequent versions of the experience.

There are also some requirements and expectations here. Disney says it's designed for daytime use and requires an iPhone 14 or newer. To its credit, Disney is upfront about what you're getting — you might encounter more errors than usual, and functionality, gameplay, or features could change or even be removed.

Hopefully just the beginning

Even so, this is an exciting development for Imagineering, and Disney at large. It's another rare look into the creative process, and rather than simply stumbling onto a potential play-test inside the park, Disney is deploying a dedicated app and giving guests a chance to try new experiences while they're still being developed.

It makes sense that Disney is starting with a select group, and arguably some of the biggest fans of the parks, in Disneyland Magic Key holders. But I do hope we see a wider release sooner rather than later. After all, part of the excitement here is getting a look at what Imagineers are dreaming up, even if some of those ideas never ship.

There's also the question of where Imagineering Labs goes next. For now, the focus is firmly on Disneyland, and with Secrets of the Spire, that makes sense. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland has seen its timeline reworked to make room for classic characters, including Leia Organa. Still, as someone who's spent plenty of time exploring Galaxy's Edge on both coasts, I'd love to see experiments like this eventually make their way to Disney World, too.

And while Secrets of the Spire is the first experiment, it won't be the only one. It's very much focused on storytelling and immersion, effectively turning your iPhone into a Star Wars gadget that you can use while exploring Batuu. It's additive to the experience, giving you another way to interact with Galaxy's Edge if you choose so.

But Disney Imagineering is also exploring something more utility-focused; and interestingly, something that could help you spend less time looking at your phone while visiting the parks.

You might recall that at Meta Connect 2025, Disney Imagineering and Meta teased the possibility of using Meta Ray-Ban glasses within Disney Parks. And this next experiment does take advantage of wearable technology in a pretty similar fashion.

Dubbed the Disneyland Enchanted Guide, it's an AI-powered assistant designed to help you navigate Disneyland, check attraction wait times, get recommendations, and more. You can talk to it or type questions on your iPhone, and it's multimodal, meaning it can also understand images. But perhaps most interestingly, you can interact with it hands-free through devices like Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses or Bluetooth earbuds, such as AirPods.

It's a pretty interesting contrast to Secrets of the Spire. One encourages you to pull out your iPhone and immerse yourself even further in the world of Star Wars, while the other aims to help you put it away and get back to enjoying the parks.

And I think that's what makes Imagineering Labs so interesting. We're getting a look at two very different approaches to technology in Disney Parks. I'm especially curious to see what Imagineering dreams up next — and hopefully, more of us will get the chance to try these experiments for ourselves soon.

• Disney Accelerator is exploring new roles for robots across Disney's amusement parks
• Field AI is testing Cars-inspired autonomous robots to help guests park
• Physical Intelligence is exploring robots that sort and organize 3D glasses

Picture this: The next time you're pulling into one of the many parking lots at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, or Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, you might not need to go hunting for a parking spot. Instead, you're greeted by a car that looks like it drove straight out of Pixar's Cars.

The car is decked out in a bright orange paint job with a yellow safety vest and marshaling wands, with a screen on top displaying directional arrows telling you where to turn and park. It even offers a friendly wink as you start to make the turn.

Then, as you approach the end of your spot, another little vehicle rolls up alongside you, its screen flashing 'slow,' then a thumbs up, and finally 'have a nice day.' It's a pretty magical way to be welcomed to a Disney park before you've even stepped inside, right?

And it might not be as far off as you think. As part of Disney Accelerator 2026, Disney is collaborating with Field AI to test autonomous robots in parking lots and explore how they could help with park operations.

Field AI essentially develops the intelligence — or the brain — behind robots, rather than the robotic hardware itself. The company has experience deploying autonomous solutions in engineering environments, and Disney is now exploring how that technology could translate to its theme parks.

It’s essentially the intelligence that comes in the form of hardware and software as a kit that goes on top of the robot. In the video, it’s clear that the Cars figure is the end goal, but we do see what appears to be a Boston Dynamics robot with the Field AI stack on top, offering the screen and directional movement guidance for a few brief moments.

Gary Daniels, SVP of Technology at Disney Experiences, said: "We're excited to be working with Field AI, testing autonomous robots' ability to guide cars to park. Imagine if characters from Cars or robots from Wall-E direct you where to park when you arrive. The work we're doing now is a great way to see how robots function and, as important, how people respond."

It's clearly a test for now, but seeing Field AI's intelligence solution in action in the demonstration videos is pretty compelling. Particularly when you consider how it could pair with Disney Imagineering's existing research and development work in robotics.

Think about the robotic Star Wars BDX Droids, Olaf from Frozen, or even the walking Groot. Disney has already been exploring how to bring familiar characters into the physical world. Now, there's an opportunity to take some of those robotics advances beyond entertainment and into the everyday guest experience — while also helping with operational challenges like parking management and moving guests around the parks. The latter is something Disney Experiences knows a lot about, and a car from Cars or a robot from Wall-E would fit right in.

Of course, it's still early days, and these experiments are just that: explorations. But Disney Accelerator participants have found their way into the parks before.

Haddy, part of the 2025 group, develops large-scale 3D printing technology that produces materials and components to match the quality Imagineering requires. Its work was used to create an entirely new boat for Jungle Cruise at Disneyland in 2025. I wouldn't be surprised to see Haddy's technology featured in future projects, potentially including new environments like the forthcoming Monstropolis land at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Robots could also help behind the scenes

The parking experiment is perhaps the most immediately exciting from a guest perspective, but another Disney Accelerator 2026 participant is exploring a robotic application that could have just as much impact behind the scenes.

Physical Intelligence is working on a tool that could greatly benefit Cast Members. Attractions like Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, and Mickey's PhilharMagic — found at Disney parks in the United States and elsewhere around the world — use 3D glasses that guests pick up and wear during the attraction before returning them afterward.

Guests, myself included, don't always think twice about dropping those glasses back into a collection bin. But someone has to sort through them, untangle them, and make sure they're in good shape for the next guest.

That's where Physical Intelligence comes in. The exploration takes shape as a robot that can sort and organize the glasses, potentially untangling them and stacking them for redistribution. It's not necessarily an easy task for a robot to handle. It requires dexterity, precision, and the ability to apply varying amounts of force depending on what it's handling.

Physical Intelligence already trains robots to carry out everyday tasks, including folding shirts, cutting vegetables, and folding boxes. Teaching a robot to handle Disney's 3D glasses is another step toward getting these machines to carry out more complicated physical tasks.

The company explained that training robots to perform basic functions, while pairing that training with the right inputs — such as sight through a camera and touch through sensors — is key. For the glasses-sorting experiment, the robot is taught how to carry out the task through demonstrations and training, allowing it to learn how to handle and stack the glasses. It’s also been deployed in parks in some test use cases.

There's an interesting parallel here with the reinforcement training Disney worked on alongside Google DeepMind and Nvidia for its BDX Droids. While the applications are different, both demonstrate how extensive training and the right combination of inputs can help robots interact with the physical world in increasingly sophisticated ways. Here it’s clear, though, that real hands-on — err, robotic arms — training was needed versus simulation.

And there's an important distinction in how this could benefit Disney's workforce. The goal isn't necessarily to replace a Cast Member or eliminate a role. Instead, automating a repetitive task like sorting glasses could free someone up to spend more time interacting with guests, thus creating those little moments that make a Disney visit special.

Disney's robotic ambitions go beyond bringing characters to life

Both Physical Intelligence's glasses-sorting experiment and Field AI's autonomous parking guidance show that Disney's robotic ambitions, with the right partners, go well beyond bringing characters to life. One could help make arriving at a park more seamless and perhaps a little more magical, while the other could make some of the less glamorous work of running a theme park easier.

Even so, the learnings from these two use cases and prototypes could eventually find their way into future roaming characters in the parks or even on Disney Cruise Line ships.

And while the BDX Droids aren't greeting guests daily in the parks just yet, and Olaf has taken a few tumbles along the way, Disney has a much bigger vision for where this technology could go.

Kyle Laughlin, SVP of R&D, Technology and Engineering at Walt Disney Imagineering, previously told us: "We don't envision just one robot from a franchise, but an entire world populated with characters you know and love."

Maybe that world starts with a robot directing you into a parking spot.

At a glance: Apple iMac 24-inch (M6) Review

Apple iMac (2026, M6) scorecard

How the Apple iMac (2026, M6) scored in our review

Value

4.5

Design

4.5

Performance

5

Overall

4.5

Group 1 Data

Product	Value ()	Design ()	Performance ()	Overall ()
Apple iMac (2026, M6)	4.5	4.5	5	4.5

Apple iMac 24-inch (M6) Review: Value for money

Apple's iMac with M6 isn't a revolution, but rather a lesson in squeezing more value out of a familiar package without raising the price. And I want to underscore the latter, as the iMac starts at $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,399 for the entry-level configuration, which is the same price as the M4 iMac — although Apple did increase the price of the M4 model earlier this year. For that price, you get a well-equipped Mac desktop that gives you everything you need to get started right out of the box.

That starts with the iMac itself, which is a modern, slim, colorful unit that won't take up much real estate, while giving you the canvas of a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display. Even without nano-texture glass — if you choose not to upgrade, as with my review unit — it's a colorful, vibrant, and rich experience that works well for everyday tasks and more creative work alike.

And, of course, there's the new M6 chip. It's a meaningful performance upgrade that keeps everything running smoothly, whether you're juggling everyday apps, working across multiple browser tabs, or getting stuck into more creative tasks. The addition of the Dual 16-core Neural Engine is another important part of the equation, helping accelerate AI-powered features, and giving this iMac more room to grow as Apple Intelligence continues to evolve. It's not just about getting a faster Mac today, but having a capable desktop that should feel ready for what's next, too.

Ultimately, it's excellent value for someone buying a new desktop Mac, whether it's their first iMac or an upgrade from an older machine. If you already have the M4 iMac, though, there's less reason to rush out and upgrade. This is a speed bump rather than a reinvention, but getting more performance for the same price is still a win.

If you currently have an older iMac or an aging Mac, and want a desktop that gives you everything you need out of the box — including a great display — there’s really no better value in Apple’s lineup.

Apple iMac 24-inch (M6) Review: Design

• Familiar, colorful all-in-one design
• Immersive 24-inch 4.5K Retina display
• You can still get it with nano-texture glass

Apple's iMac is still instantly recognizable as the latest generation of its iconic all-in-one. The new iMac with M6 looks just like the iMac with M4, M3, and M1 that came before it. It's still plenty colorful, and offers an expansive 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, all in a remarkably thin build that takes up minimal space wherever you decide to place it.

On the front, the 24-inch screen is surrounded by a white bezel, with the bottom featuring a chin in whichever color you've chosen. I'm testing the Purple model, just like last time, which is a light, likely Wonka-approved take on the shade. The rear and sides feature a darker, matte aluminum version of purple that really pops, while the giant Apple logo remains front and center on the back.

For connectivity, the left side has a headphone jack — yes, the iMac has a proper audio jack — while the rear houses the power connection, which magnetically snaps into place. It's convenient, though not a quick-release connection like MagSafe on the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. Around back, you'll either get two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports or four, depending on the configuration. I'm testing the higher-end option with all four, and the power adapter also features a 2.5Gb Ethernet port.

Not much else is different here, especially since Apple introduced this design way back with the M1. If purple isn't your shade, there are six other color options: Orange, Blue, Yellow, Green, Silver, and Pink. You'll also get a color-matched keyboard and Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad in the box, along with a matching USB-C to USB-C cable.

The display is really good, with a 4480 x 2520 resolution and up to 500 nits of brightness. Using it as my daily Mac, I've found it to be a great screen for just about everything. Colors pop, there's plenty of detail, and the resolution scales nicely whether I'm checking email, browsing the web, replying to messages, putting together presentations in Keynote, scrolling through Photos, or hopping on a FaceTime call.

It's equally enjoyable for watching content, whether that's a full-screen YouTube video or something playing in a window while I work. And for more creative tasks, there's plenty of detail and color to work with when editing photos or videos.

Apple iMac 24-inch (M6) Review: Specs

Apple iMac 24-inch (M6) Review: Performance

• Apple's M6 chip brings a welcome performance boost over M4, M3, or M1
• Everyday multitasking feels effortless, even with 16GB of RAM
• Improved Neural Engine makes AI and creative tasks feel snappy

As I hinted at above, the main change with Apple's iMac for 2026 is the processor. Apple's all-in-one computer is jumping from M4 to M6, and there are still two main configurations to choose from. For most folks, the entry-level iMac should be more than enough. Priced at $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$3,499, you get an M6 chip with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and Dual 16-core Neural Engine, alongside 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

For $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$3,699, you can step up to an M6 with a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, along with the same Dual 16-core Neural Engine, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. That extra horsepower should come in handy for more creative tasks and on-device AI functionality.

It's also worth noting that neither configuration comes with a price increase over the previous generation. Both feature improvements to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, now sitting at Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, along with Thread connectivity to help with the smart home.

I've been testing the step-up model with the fully specced M6 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Out of the box, setup was a breeze, and the iMac is running macOS 27.2. Here's a pro tip: as part of the onboarding process, you can choose to set up your new Mac using an iPhone or iPad, which speeds things up a bit.

From there, you're presented with a welcome screen; hit Enter, and you're ready to start using your iMac however you'd like. And, as has been the case with most Macs since Apple made the jump to its own chips — Apple Silicon — everyday performance isn't really an issue. In my daily use, I've had no trouble running Safari and Google Chrome, both with more than a dozen tabs open, alongside Messages, Mail, Photos, Pixelmator Pro, and Slack, all without skipping a beat. Thanks to the M6 chip, multitasking is effortless, and everything feels zippy and responsive. That's particularly impressive given that this configuration has just 16GB of RAM.

One key advantage of the M6 is its Dual 16-core Neural Engine, compared with the single Neural Engine in earlier iMac models. This helps power Siri AI and other Apple Intelligence features, and I've found some of the multimodal capabilities particularly snappy. For instance, I can ask Siri to create a calendar event based on an invitation displayed on my screen in Mail or Gmail, and even have it invite other people. You can type your request into Spotlight or use the built-in microphones to get started.

Similarly, as part of the latest updates to Apple Creator Studio, Generative Fill within Pixelmator Pro works quite snappily here. It's also easy enough to ask it to try again if the result isn't quite right. You can also use Siri AI within Numbers, Pages, and Keynote for a little extra assistance. I've found myself making good use of the big screen, too, starting with a photo edit in the Photos app using tools like Expand or Clean Up before sending it into Pixelmator Pro to refine things further. The Super Resolution functionality is particularly handy for boosting overall image quality.

Previously, my iMac with M4, which was specced with a beefier 32GB of RAM, scored 3,646 in single-core and 14,724 in multi-core testing with Geekbench 6.3. The iMac with M6 surpassed those results, scoring 4,553 in single-core and 20,038 in multi-core with Geekbench 6. That's roughly a 25% improvement in single-core performance and a 36% jump in multi-core performance over the M4.

We also ran Geekbench 7, where the M6 iMac scored 3,931 in single-core and 21,374 in multi-core testing. While those results aren't directly comparable to my previous Geekbench 6.3 scores, they further demonstrate the kind of performance this machine can deliver.

It's an impressive leap over two generations of Apple Silicon, and one that matches my real-world experience over the past few days. The iMac with M6 feels zippy, responsive, and ready for a challenge, even with just 16GB of RAM inside.

The iMac remains the centerpiece of Apple's all-in-one desktop lineup. Unlike the Mac mini or Mac Studio, you're getting a complete system that's ready to go right out of the box. That means a screen, speakers, ports, keyboard, and mouse are all included, making it an excellent choice for someone buying their first desktop Mac, upgrading from an older model or even a PC, or a business looking for a straightforward, all-in-one solution.

The iMac has always served a lot of different use cases, and Apple's latest iteration doesn't change or revolutionize that. But a speed-bump upgrade can still be a worthwhile one, especially when it brings more performance without increasing the price. You're getting more computer for the same money, and that's always welcome.

Should I buy the Apple iMac with M6?

How I tested the Apple iMac with M6

I've spent the past five days putting the Apple iMac with M6 through its paces. After unboxing it, I set it up in two different spaces — my kitchen island and my desk — to get a sense of how it fits into different environments. I downloaded a range of apps for work and play, including Google Chrome, Pixelmator Pro, Final Cut Pro, Slack, and Geekbench.

I used it as my daily work machine, juggling browser tabs, messages, and creative projects, while also running benchmarks and more demanding tasks. Outside of work, I played games, took calls, watched movies, and listened to music to get a feel for its overall performance and entertainment experience.

First reviewed November 2026.

At a glance: Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (2026, M6) scorecard

How the Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (2026, M6) scored in our review

Value

4

Design

4

Performance

4.5

Battery life

4.5

Overall

4

Group 1 Data

Product	Value ()	Design ()	Performance ()	Battery life ()	Overall ()
Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (2026, M6)	4	4	4.5	4.5	4

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Value for money

No, this isn't the headline-grabbing new MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen and a thinner, lighter build. Alongside introducing those new models, Apple is sticking with a trend I'm a big fan of: yearly updates that ensure the entry-level MacBook Pro remains a solid proposition, with Apple's latest silicon and other top-end specs under the hood.

Apple hasn't changed much with the 2026 14-inch MacBook Pro, but it didn't need to. As the entry-level Pro, and a step up from the MacBook Air in terms of specs, it offers more ports in a familiar design that's slightly bulkier than the Air, but still plenty portable. You also get a very capable 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED display with a notch at the top, a clicky-clacky keyboard with nice travel, a larger trackpad, and great sound with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support.

The big change is the M6 chip under the hood, with this model joining the still-available M5 Pro and M5 Max models. Those chips, while older, are more powerful, but don't let the M6 Pro's entry-level positioning fool you: Apple's latest silicon is no slouch, delivering excellent everyday performance with plenty of power for more intensive tasks, including photo and video editing, coding, and AI work.

I've been using the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 for the best part of a week, and it's been smooth sailing. It's handled my daily mix of productivity and creative work in apps like Slack, Safari, Google Chrome, Notes, Pages, Pixelmator Pro, and Final Cut Pro, running alongside Messages and FaceTime, effortlessly, without me needing to quit or close anything. The configuration I'm testing pairs the M6's 12-core CPU — split between two super cores, four performance cores, and six efficiency cores — with a 12-core GPU and Dual 16-core Neural Engine, and the base 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Design

• Same design as M5 Pro, with plenty of ports
• Excellent 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion
• Comfortable keyboard, oversized trackpad, and 12MP Center Stage camera

The M6 14-inch MacBook Pro sticks with the well-loved and well-tested design of recent Pro models. It's a little bulkier than the Air on account of its plentiful connectivity options, which include three Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe 3 port.

It's the same sleek design as the M5, M4, and even M3 versions that came before it. It's a design I know well, and one I use daily myself, and I appreciate that it doesn't feel too light or flimsy, but also not too heavy at just 3.4 pounds.

It keeps the same overall dimensions as last year's 14-inch Pro at 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches. You also get the same two color choices, Space Black or Silver; my review model is Silver, and it contrasts quite nicely with the darker, mirrored Apple logo on the rear — unlike the logo on the newly redesigned touchscreen MacBook Pro, though, this one doesn't light up.

The M6 Pro also doesn't pack Apple's fancy new tandem OLED display, which is a stunner, with especially impressive contrast and the added benefit of not having the notch. The 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display here is no slouch, though, and even with that higher-end model's arrival, this remains one of the best laptop screens on the market.

It supports refresh rates up to 120Hz thanks to ProMotion, and delivers a 3024 x 1964 resolution with vibrant colors and excellent contrast, including wonderfully inky blacks. I've found it great for photo editing in Photos or Pixelmator Pro, video editing in iMovie, CapCut, or Final Cut Pro, streaming videos, FaceTime calls, and even the more straightforward task of writing this review. I always appreciate those inky blacks as I type away.

I've become used to the rectangular cutout notch centered at the top of the display, and I'm still confident that if you've never experienced it before, any initial annoyance at its presence will quickly fade. I am eyeing the pill-shaped Dynamic Island on the more expensive MacBook Pro, but it's really not a necessity.

Here, the menu bar wraps around the notch, which houses a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera that keeps you in the frame and looking sharp during video calls. It also supports Portrait mode to blur your background, and you can use the edges of the screen as a ring light in low lighting conditions.

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Specs

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Performance

• M6 is an excellent chip
• Handles everyday multitasking, creative apps, and gaming with ease
• Apple's N1 chip brings support for latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards

Any Mac with Apple silicon really pushes the value meter, and the M6 inside the MacBook Pro is no different. But that also means that if you have an M5, M4, M3, or even an older MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, and its performance is still good enough for your needs, you likely don't need to rush to upgrade just yet.

The M6 14-inch Pro sits alongside the M5 Pro and M5 Max, and only one chip configuration is available as the entry-level option. It's a 12-core CPU — made up of two super cores, four performance cores, and six efficiency cores — alongside a 12-core GPU and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine. While the M5 Pro and M5 Max can outperform it on the GPU front, those chips don't feature efficiency cores in the CPU or the doubled-up Neural Engine. The M6 starts with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage — the configuration I've been testing — but can be specced with up to 32GB of RAM and 4TB of storage.

So just how good is the M6 chip inside the 14-inch MacBook Pro? Well, quantitatively, it scored 4,752 in Geekbench 6's single-core test and 21,184 in multi-core. In Geekbench 7, it hit 4,027 single-core and 22,305 multi-core. Compare that to the M5-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro, which scored 4,288 and 17,926 in Geekbench 6, respectively. That's a considerable improvement of around 11% in single-core performance and 18% in multi-core. It also shows off the M6's multitasking chops and efficiency, the latter of which is mission-critical for a laptop with a battery inside — more on that below.

On the storage front, the SSD is largely unchanged. In the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, the M6 MacBook Pro clocked read speeds of 6,684.6 MB/s and write speeds of 6,501.6 MB/s. That's essentially on par with the M5 model, which managed 6,619.7 MB/s read and 6,517 MB/s write. So, no major improvement here, but not a step backwards either.

Over the past few days, I've put the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 through its paces as my daily machine. I regularly use Slack, Google Chrome, Safari — both browsers with dozens of tabs open, as I don't love closing them — Notes, Photos, Pixelmator Pro, Siri, and Music, alongside Messages and the occasional FaceTime or iPhone Mirroring session. I also put it through some video exports and project-creation work, mainly for social video at 2K or 4K, using iMovie, Final Cut Pro, and Edits. I also spent some time gaming with titles like Mini Metro, Mini Motorways, and Disney Dreamlight Valley.

Apple Intelligence is another area where the M6 feels right at home. Siri AI was particularly quick in my testing, especially with multimodal tasks, such as asking it about items on-screen or handling multi-step processes. Apple's Creator Studio improvements also ran smoothly, including Generative Fill in Pixelmator Pro. These are the kinds of tasks that show off the M6's Neural Engine, and I didn't have to wait around for results.

Generative Fill in Pixelmator Pro, as part of Creator Studio, is really impressive, and while it can take a beat to process, it's on a par with Photoshop's Generative Fill. Take a look at the example below, where I added a river below a photo of a Rivian R2 in a parking garage.

With plenty of apps open and a demanding workload running, I did occasionally hear the fans kick in, but never for sustained periods. For the most part, the MacBook Pro remained quiet, even with my usual mix of productivity and creative apps running.

The M6 doesn't quite beat the M5 Pro or M5 Max 14-inch MacBook Pro models for more intensive tasks, like larger video exports. It can certainly hold its own, but those jobs take a little longer, and the fans might kick in along the way. For everyday use and then some, though, whether that's photo or video editing, music creation, or even gaming, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 easily holds its own.

And that's the case whether you're plugged in or unplugged and running on battery. I didn't notice any performance throttling when switching to battery power, so you can expect the same capable performance without being tethered to an outlet.

Beyond adding the M6 chip, Apple also upgraded the connectivity specs, with the in-house-made N1 wireless chip bringing support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and the Thread smart-home standard.

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Battery Life

• All-day battery life
• Beats Apple's own web-browsing estimate of 16 hours
• Lasted an impressive 19 hours and 5 minutes in our browsing test

Unsurprisingly, the 14-inch MacBook Pro remains a battery-life champ with the M6 inside. Since Apple switched to its own in-house chips, performance, efficiency, and battery life have all improved compared to its previous Intel-powered laptops.

The M6 model features a 72.4-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery like the M5 before it, with Apple promising up to 24 hours of video playback, 16 hours of web browsing, and, as always, "all-day battery life." You can still charge it either with MagSafe — Apple includes a USB-C to MagSafe cable in the box — or via USB-C.

Even with pretty heavy use, the 14-inch MacBook Pro can comfortably last a full workday, and might stretch to multiple days without charging, depending on what you're doing. That's seriously impressive — and as I noted above, performance stays fast whether you're plugged in or running on battery.

Should I buy the Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6?

How I tested the Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6

I spent five days using the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 as one of my daily work machines, taking it through the kind of workload I'd typically throw at my own MacBook. That meant plenty of writing, editing, and multitasking, with dozens of tabs open across Safari and Chrome, with Slack, Notes, Messages, and other everyday apps running alongside creative tools like Pixelmator Pro.

I also tested how well the M6 handled more demanding tasks, including video exports, Apple Intelligence features, and gaming. I compared its performance with the M5 Pro-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro and an M4 14-inch MacBook Pro, and I also used it plugged in and on battery to see whether performance changed when untethered.

First reviewed November 2026.