Mike Wuerthele and Malcolm Owen
A new report claims that Apple's current schedule doesn't include updates to its Mac Pro and Mac Studio machines until the middle of 2025.
The Mac Studio and Mac Pro got their most recent refreshes at the 2023 WWDC, it may be a bit of a wait for the next refresh. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that the two pro-level Macs will be skipped in 2024. If accurate, this would mean a two-year refresh cycle for Apple's current highest-end machines.
Apple's M3 chip debuted with Pro and Max versions out of the gate, at the October 2023 MacBook Pro-centric event. Other chips started at the base, and worked their ways up to Pro, Max, and Ultra.
It took over a year for M1 to get an Ultra variant. The M1 Ultra debuted in the refreshed Mac Pro and then-new Mac Studio.
Apple's M1 and M2 chips in Mac Pro and Mac Studio had clear interconnects, so a chip like the Ultra was a clear possibility relatively early. The M3 does not have this obvious interconnect, so it's possible Apple had this road map in mind all along.
It's also not the first time a Mac has skipped a generation. The iMac went from M1 to M3 processor, for instance.
Relatively speaking, Apple does not sell that many Mac Studio or Mac Pro units. The company's flagships remain the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines — and it's not close.
No other new Macs are expected to be announced during WWDC, which runs from June 10 to 14. Most of the rest of the Mac line is expected to gain M4 chips by the end of 2024.
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39 Comments
I am not convinced this is true. Apple seems to be accelerating devices towards the M4 platform or they would not have dropped the M4 bomb with the iPad Pro.
Further they have demonstrated acceleration in model ramp of CPUs last year by releasing multiple SKUs of M3* at the same time. This indicates massively improved partnership and logistics with TSMC and if continued to improve then we have a fair shot at across the board launch for WWDC which would be a tour de force to signal Apple is back with a vengeance and is all in on AI.
I am hoping hoping for M4 Ultra shockwave at WWDC to send the Pros swooning.
I also don’t believe this. Who the heck will buy a studio with m2 for the next year ? It just doesn’t stack up . M3 is dead due to the production process and m4 and its variants will come. And frankly for the Studio, WWDC seems a very logical moment to at least announce it
When you click on “view comments” for an articles, why can’t you automatically scroll down to the comments instead of the user having to scroll through the article a second time? Not a very Apple like experience.
With the Snapdragon X-Elite hype train in full swing, I'd imagine Apple would want to release the laptops first.