Smaller Mac Pro with Apple Silicon to join Mac mini refresh in 2022

An Apple Silicon version of the Mac Pro is on the way, a report predicts, with Apple also expected to release an updated Mac mini in 2022.

Apple is pushing to release Apple Silicon hardware to replace Intel-based Macs as part of an aggressive two-year transition schedule. It seems that 2022 will see Apple complete the shift, with it finally offering a high-end Mac aimed at enterprise users.

According to predictions made in Mark Gurman's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg on Sunday, a new Mac Pro running Apple Silicon will launch in the year. Gurman reckons that the model will be a smaller counterpart to the existing Mac Pro design, while also packing considerable performance gains from using Apple's own chip design.

Gurman says the Mac Pro version of Apple Silicon will include a chip with up to 40 cores in the CPU, along with a 128-core GPU. Previously, Bloomberg claimed the Apple Silicon Mac Pro would use 20-core or 40-core CPUs, as well as 64-core and 128-core GPU options.

It was also claimed by Gurman in August 2021 that Apple will "barely hit its two-year timeline" for the Apple Silicon transition.

Early leaks put the size of the updated Mac Pro as being smaller than a G4 Cube, with the compute unit on the bottom and a heat sink on the top. However, there have been few other claims about its design other than its size.

Alongside the new Mac Pro, Gurman also believes a new Mac mini is on the way. Previous rumors have pointed to a radical design update to the model, including a thinner frame, with a "plexiglass-like" top panel, and color options.

Port options are thought to include a mix of USB 4 and USB-A, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, and a magnetic circular power connector. An upgrade of chip from the M1 is also anticipated, to either an M1 variant like the M1 Pro or M1 Max, or to a new generation such as the "M2."

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36 Comments

OutdoorAppDeveloper 1292 comments · 15 Years

About 2 years ago

A Mac Pro would pretty much require a M2 processor with graphics cores that include hardware ray tracing if it is to compete with professional solutions from NVIDIA and AMD. The summer/fall time frame is right for the M2 to be released and Apple now has a hardware compatible ray tracing SDK. It will be exciting to see what Apple can do in the rapidly evolving field of high end GPUs.

9secondkox2 3124 comments · 8 Years

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

A Mac Pro would pretty much require a M2 processor with graphics cores that include hardware ray tracing if it is to compete with professional solutions from NVIDIA and AMD. The summer/fall time frame is right for the M2 to be released and Apple now has a hardware compatible ray tracing SDK. It will be exciting to see what Apple can do in the rapidly evolving field of high end GPUs.

Agreed. It will likely offer an M2 Max Quad or Octo as options. Maybe M2 Max Duo on the low end.

An octo would mop the floor with anything that comes out in that time frame, likely until the m3 version.

The Mac Pro is the ultimate machine. Nothing should be able to top the higher tiers.

cg27 221 comments · 18 Years

9secondkox2 said:

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

A Mac Pro would pretty much require a M2 processor with graphics cores that include hardware ray tracing if it is to compete with professional solutions from NVIDIA and AMD. The summer/fall time frame is right for the M2 to be released and Apple now has a hardware compatible ray tracing SDK. It will be exciting to see what Apple can do in the rapidly evolving field of high end GPUs.

Agreed. It will likely offer an M2 Max Quad or Octo as options. Maybe M2 Max Duo on the low end.
An octo would mop the floor with anything that comes out in that time frame, likely until the m3 version.

The Mac Pro is the ultimate machine. Nothing should be able to top the higher tiers.

Unless they introduce a Mac Max.

george kaplan 169 comments · 16 Years

Seeing the reference to the G4 Cube made me feel both old and sad.

I loved my Cube; I had no need to expand it, but the fanless design meant it was quiet as a tomb. My office was in my bedroom then, but I could have the Cube on all night and it never made a peep. Back then, Windows desktop units often used cheap fans built with even cheaper bearings, and some fans could be heard in the background of a phone call. But the Cube made no noise at all, and the G4 chip in its day was pretty frisky.

tipoo 1121 comments · 14 Years

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

A Mac Pro would pretty much require a M2 processor with graphics cores that include hardware ray tracing if it is to compete with professional solutions from NVIDIA and AMD. The summer/fall time frame is right for the M2 to be released and Apple now has a hardware compatible ray tracing SDK. It will be exciting to see what Apple can do in the rapidly evolving field of high end GPUs.

Agreed, on a GPU of this scale (128 Apple GPU cores * 128 ALUs per core = 16384 unified shaders) I'd really like to see their take on a hardware accelerated ray tracing solution. And maybe something like DLSS, that second on-die Neural Engine that isn't userspace available maybe?