Despite largely shifting over to its own custom silicon, Apple is reportedly still intending to release an Intel-powered Mac in the future.
According to MacRumors, Apple still intends to launch a Mac Pro model running on traditional Intel hardware.
It’s claimed that Apple is currently working on two new Mac Pro models. One of these will feature a total redesign with a smaller form factor, complete with a switch to Apple’s powerful M-series silicon.
But the other Mac Pro will be largely the same design as the current model, and will continue to run on Intel processors.
Given that this is Apple’s most Pro machine, used by industry professionals for high-end tasks, there’s evidently still some call for a machine built using more traditional components.
After all, a switch to Apple’s Silicon is a switch to a completely different architecture. As good as the performance of Apple’s new chips may be, there’s likely to be issues with compatibility for some time to come.
Apple preempted these issues to a great degree with its Rosetta 2 translation tool, but the company may wish make this water tight before going all in with its M-series chips, lest it alienate a whole swathe of its customer base.
The more ambitious redesigned Mac Pro is expected to launch with up to 32 high-performance cores and up to 128 graphics cores, with potentially two or even four dies of the M1 Max chip that so impressed in the latest MacBook Pro.
