Apple Drops Mac Pro Upgrades and Bets on Mac Studio Instead
Vladislav Nikolaev
High production costs and limited demand appear to have pushed Apple away from its most ambitious Mac Pro plans, with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reporting that the company has stopped developing the Mac Pro line and canceled the M2 Extreme and M3 Extreme chip projects. Apple is now looking to an updated Mac Studio to fill the top end of its desktop lineup.
Gurman also said new Mac Studio models with M5 Ultra processors could arrive this fall.
Apple reportedly built two Mac Pro prototypes that never reached the market: J170 and J190. J170 was supposed to use an Intel processor even after Apple had moved to its own chips, while J190 was planned around M3 Ultra and was meant to launch alongside Mac Studio in early 2025.
The last Mac Pro with M2 Ultra reportedly cost about twice as much as a Mac Studio with similar capabilities, a gap that seems to have strengthened Apple's case for shifting attention away from the tower model.
The company is also planning a broader iPad refresh. Apple reportedly wants to update the iPad mini in 2024, then refresh the base iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro in 2027.
AppleCare+ for new iPad and Mac buyers will also rise by 50 cents per month, and Apple Music has recently become more expensive as well. The latest report suggests Apple is trimming one high-end Mac path while spreading its hardware updates across more of its lineup.
It was previously reported that Apple has once again overtaken NVIDIA in market capitalization.
Are you surprised that Apple seems ready to leave Mac Pro upgrades behind for Mac Studio?
