Leaked M6 Benchmarks Show New Mac Mini Performance Gains

The first unverified benchmark for Apple’s upcoming M6 silicon processor has officially surfaced online. Discovered in the Geekbench 7 database, the test results provide an early look at the performance gains coming to Apple’s next-generation Mac lineup (via MacRumors).

The benchmark arrives just ahead of Apple’s official hardware release date, with the newly redesigned M6 Mac mini scheduled to ship to buyers next week. According to the Geekbench 7 entry, the base M6 system achieved a single-core CPU score of 4,071 and a multi-core CPU score of 22,783.

When stacked up against the current generation, these numbers highlight a noticeable jump in raw computing power. The average scores for the standard M5 processor sit at roughly 3,641 for single-core tasks and 17,948 for multi-core performance.

Comparing those figures reveals two major upgrades:

• Single-Core CPU Performance: Up to 12% faster than the M5 generation.
• Multi-Core CPU Performance: Up to 27% faster than the M5 generation.

The 27% leap in multi-threaded workflows closely matches Apple’s marketing claims that the new chip delivers up to 1.2x faster multi-core performance. Built on a advanced 2-nanometer manufacturing process, the base M6 silicon features a 12-core CPU configuration, expanding on the 10-core layout found in the standard M5 chip.

Apple previously claimed that the M6 processor contains the world’s fastest single-threaded CPU cores. If this leaked benchmark holds accurate, the single-core score of 4,071 puts the base M6 chip at the top of the Geekbench 7 leaderboards, outperforming both high-end desktop PC processors and mobile competition like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme.

At 22,783, the entry-level M6 chip comes surprisingly close to matching last generation’s M4 Pro processor while delivering more than 2.5 times the overall performance of the original base M1 chip from 2020.

The new Mac mini featuring M6 and M5 Pro configuration options, along with the updated Mac Studio powered by M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, will officially launch on Tuesday, September 22.