Mac Pro with 40 CPU cores and 128 GPU cores worth of Apple Silicon will erase all memories of the desktop with Intel Core and AMD Radeon parts

Hot on the heels of the reveal of the 2021 MacBook Pro laptops and the M1 Max and M1 Pro chips, we now have a timely reminder about the next Mac Pro desktop, which has frequently been rumored for a 2022 launch. With Apple seeking to replace as many processors as possible with its own silicon, it has to be questioned what the company can use to replace something like a Mac Pro with a 28-core Intel Xeon W processor and a Radeon Pro W6900X graphics card that offers 80 compute units (CUs). It appears the answer could be the Apple M1 Max – in dual and quadruple configurations.

According to noted Apple informer and Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, a future high-end Apple Mac Pro will be stocked with up to 40 CPU cores and 128 GPU cores, which should be more than enough to offer the expected performance boosts over previous-generation Mac Pro desktops. Gurman originally made this claim in a Bloomberg report from May and has now posted a reminder following the launch of the new Apple Silicon and confirmation of the core configurations. He states that the new Mac Pro will offer 2x or 4x what the M1 Max (10C/32C) is configured with, so 20 or 40 CPU cores and 64 or 128 GPU cores. It would be a monstrous device ready to take on any computational task a user throws at it.

Interestingly, Gurman’s statement conflicts with previous rumors about the next-generation Mac Pro. Earlier this year it was claimed that the 2022 Apple desktop PC would come with up to 64 CPU cores (48 performance cores) and 128 GPU cores. While the latter GPU count is identical, if Apple uses multiple unchanged units of the M1 Max for the next Mac Pro, it would have 20 CPU cores or 40 CPU cores. Either way, in regard to a potential price tag, such a machine would no doubt not offer much change from US$20,000.

As it is unlikely that Apple could produce completely new silicon for such a powerful computer (so no “M1 Pro Max” as some wags have already suggested), potential realistic names for the internal SoC combination have been offered up as “M1 Max Duo” and “M1 Max Quadro”. While those seem like reasonable guesses, Apple has been keen to throw spanners in the rumor works lately, as evidenced by the non-appearance/name-changing of the M1X and the surprise reveal of notched displays on the 2021 MacBook Pro laptops.

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