Apple had a M1 Mac Pro, but decided to wait for M2 Extreme

Mark Gurman provided some details about unreleased Apple products in a new interview, suggesting a M1 Mac Pro isn't coming, and the Mac mini won't see a redesign.

Gurman normally reports for Bloomberg where he provides leaks and rumors from his insider sources. For example, he recently shared details about the rumored "Pro" Apple Watch Series 8 in his "Power On" newsletter.

The interview was hosted by YouTube channel Max Tech, where Gurman discussed some of the exaggerated controversies that the interviewers originally started surrounding the M2 MacBook Air. As the interview continued, Gurman shed some light on unreleased Apple products that won't be released.

"I don't think there will be a redesign to the Mac mini," said Gurman. "I actually don't know where the rumors of a redesign came from. I think those are also going to be spec bumps."

Rumors of a new Mac mini originated from the controversial Jon Prosser. His leak history was accurate for some time, but has come into question thanks to a few major misses like a flat-sided Apple Watch or an iPhone without a camera bump.

After the Mac Studio was revealed, it seemed that Apple would no longer announce a redesigned Mac mini. A Mac Pro with M1, however, remained in the rumor mill until very recently.

The rumored new Mac mini design may never be announced

"They also had an M1 Mac Pro, ready to go months ago," continued Gurman. "But I guess they scrapped that to just wait for the M2 pro version."

Rumors had originally assumed the Mac Pro would be announced during WWDC with an M1 variant, perhaps higher than the M1 Ultra. That didn't pan out, and now, with the existence of the M2 processor, the Mac Pro may not arrive for a long time.

Gurman believes the Mac Pro with "M2 Extreme" could be announced by the end of 2022, but wouldn't be released until mid-2023 at the earliest. Apple could also announce new iPad Pros with M2 and more in the same time period.

The full interview is available on the Max Tech YouTube page. Gurman shares repeated information about future AirPods and Apple Watch models and the state of Apple given the economy.

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66 Comments

rob53 3307 comments · 13 Years

About 2 years ago

It really doesn't make sense for Apple to release a M1-based product, other than for the iPad (again), when the M2 has been released. That said, Apple really needs to make sure the M2 design really works withe least amount of heat so the normal fans and heatsinks will work. Once the M2 was released, nobody in their right might would have purchased an M1 Mac Pro or updated M1 Mac mini, they'd just wait a year to get the upgraded versions.

DAalseth 3033 comments · 6 Years

Redesigning the Mini, well to what end? It’s got lots of ports, though one on the front would be nice. It matches the Studio form so there’s constancy there. No reason to do a (costly) redesign when what they have really works well. It would be fun to see, but to what purpose? They aren’t going to add upgradeable SSDs and RAM.

9secondkox2 3124 comments · 8 Years

I think Apple recognized the M1 Ultra, as powerful as it is, wasn’t going to be the nuclear weapon they intended. So the Studio was developed in a short space of time and bridges the gap. The M1 Ultra has since shown itself to not take full advantage of its potential and so we wait for M2 Ultra and “Extreme.”

Probably 3nm.

The M series Mac Pro needs to be a mic drop.

dewme 5737 comments · 10 Years

DAalseth said:

Redesigning the Mini, well to what end? It’s got lots of ports, though one on the front would be nice. It matches the Studio form so there’s constancy there. No reason to do a (costly) redesign when what they have really works well. It would be fun to see, but to what purpose? They aren’t going to add upgradeable SSDs and RAM.

I was really hoping that Apple would release a redesigned Mac mini - up until the Mac Studio landed on center stage. The Mac Studio is essentially everything that I had hoped the Mac mini would eventually become. It’s the Max mini I was hoping for.

With the lack of post purchase upgrades and with zero internal expansion capability (it’s a sealed box) the Mac Studio is effectively a massive upgrade to the Mac mini but still a long away from the Mac Pro.

So yeah I’m also wondering why Apple would put a whole lot of effort into a radical redesign of the current Mac mini. They just have to find a way to keep it up to date while still slotting it into a price-performance gap that doesn’t infringe on the base Max Studio. The next mini will be the Air of the Mac product line.

All this adds up to the notion of a “prosumer” expandable Mac that pulls in some of the expansion and upgradable features of the Mac Pro being nothing more than a pipe dream. There’s probably still a remaining niche for a beefier iMac, but Apple isn’t giving us any hints about their intentions in this area.

slow n easy 400 comments · 9 Years

DAalseth said:

Redesigning the Mini, well to what end? It’s got lots of ports, though one on the front would be nice. It matches the Studio form so there’s constancy there. No reason to do a (costly) redesign when what they have really works well. It would be fun to see, but to what purpose? They aren’t going to add upgradeable SSDs and RAM.

I would like to see a space gray color option, and it could be thinner. I like the way the render looks, but I’m not sold on the MagSafe connector because it will likely not be moved around much anyway.