The day of Apple’s WWDC has arrived. We’re expecting to see a bunch of new devices, including a completely new category for the company, and a bunch of software updates. What we aren’t expecting is a Mac Pro (2023), here are all the key rumours.
The big devices expected to drop at WWDC are a brand new Apple AR/VR headset and a new size for Apple’s popular laptop, a 15-inch MacBook Air. Then there’s the launch of the Mac Studio (2023), a device intrinsically linked with the plausibility of a new Mac Pro (2023).
After over a year of rumours regarding a new Mac Pro, the powerful Apple desktop shows little sign of being revealed at this year’s WWDC. But, the device is expected in the next year or so. These are the key rumours and murmurings.
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Release date
The next Apple Mac Pro is expected to launch sometime in 2023 or early 2024. According to Bloomberg, the first Apple Silicon Mac Pro is rumoured to be among many Macs currently being tested. It was previously expected that it could launch at WWDC 2023 but that now seems unlikely.
Now, the powerful Mac Studio device looks set to get a refresh at the event, as opposed to the launch of a Mac Pro (2023). The first signs of a delay came in late 2022, when Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Apple was scaling back production on the new high-end Mac Pro desktops. However, on an April episode of The MacRumors Show, Gurman reaffirmed his belief that an Apple Silicon Mac Pro will launch in 2023.
Price
The Mac Pro (2023) is yet to be announced, as such any details on pricing largely come down to speculation.
Apple’s most powerful machine right now is the M1 Ultra-sporting Mac Studio and its highest spec configuration comes in at close to £5,000/$5000. The previous Intel-powered Mac Pro has a starting price of around £6000/$6000. Putting that information together, you can vaguely deduce that we’d expect a price point upwards of £6000/$6000.
This would just be the entry-level model too, with Bloomberg reporting there could be a new M2 Extreme chip launching alongside a new Mac Pro to take Apple Silicon power to another level.
Specs and Performance
Per Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, we’d expect to the Mac Pro (2023) to launch with M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme chip options. The M2 Ultra is expected to launch at WWDC 2023 as part of the Mac Studio (2023) reveal. That chip, like its M1 Ultra predecessor, should essentially be two M2 Max chips fused together. A similar expectation has been set for an eventual M2 Extreme chip, that being a combination of two M2 Ultra chips (or four M2 Max chips)
When it comes down to raw specs, Gurman touts that a new Apple M2 Ultra chip will feature up to 24 CPU cores, 76 graphics cores and up to 192GB of unified memory. The M2 Extreme would then feature up to 48 CPU cores and 152 graphics cores. It’s the latter configuration that Gurman believes Apple may have scrapped for the time being, owed to the complexity of bonding four M2 Max chips together and making them work seamlessly in tandem.
There’s also concern over the price an M2 Extreme Mac Pro would have to adorn and if consumers would be willing to pay it.
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The Trusted Take
When Tim Cook first announced the transition from Intel Macs to Apple Silicon Macs, he said it would take two years. We’re now just under the three-year mark since this declaration was made and Apple hasn’t lived up to it, with the Mac Pro still not having received an M-chip-flavoured refresh.
However, a new Mac Pro is clearly being worked on and trusted sources point towards some clear reasons for delay, with the extreme performance wanted for a Mac Pro causing headaches along with the price it will eventually adorn. In the meantime, we look set to get M2 Max and M2 Ultra Mac Studio models to fill the gap.
Don’t be too disheartened Mac Pro fans, as the refreshed Mac looks almost certain to see the light of day before the year is out, if not early 2024.
The post Mac Pro (2023) Rumours: Everything you need to know appeared first on Trusted Reviews.
