Apple Mac Pro: Analyst details reasons for delays and Apple M2 Extreme cancellation

Mark Gurman has shared new details about the long-awaited next-generation Mac Pro, one of the last Intel-based devices that Apple still sells. Until now, Apple had been expected to offer the Mac Pro in two SoC options that Gurman described previously as the M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme. To recap, the pair were rumoured to contain the following hardware:

• Apple M2 Ultra: 24 CPU cores, 76 GPU cores, 192 GB unified memory (RAM) compatible
• Apple M2 Extreme: 48 CPU cores/152 GPU cores, 384 GB unified memory (RAM) compatible

However, Gurman now claims that Apple has scrapped the M2 Extreme because of costs and the complexity associated with fusing four M2 Max chipsets. Not only would production costs have been high for such the M2 Extreme, but so would have been costs for end-users. Gurman posits that an M2 Extreme-powered Mac Pro may have exceeded US$10,000 based on Apple's current pricing strategies before factoring in RAM and storage upgrades.

Instead, the Mac Pro will top out at the M2 Ultra, presumably with a lower-tier M2 Max variant as well. While those configurations sound more like an upgraded Mac Studio than a true Mac Pro, Gurman believes that Apple will distinguish the latter from the former in other areas. Reputedly, the new Mac Pro will retain expandability options, unlike the Mac Studio, with RAM, storage and other components all replaceable.

For reference, the Mac Studio should support upgradeable storage. However, iFixit locks this away, as we discussed earlier this year. As such, we would not be surprised if the Mac Pro only offered proprietary upgrade options. Gurman has not shared a new release date for an Apple silicon-based Mac Pro yet, though. Seemingly, the Mac Pro will launch in early 2023, possibly alongside refreshed Mac mini, MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 machines.

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