Apple abandons high-end Mac Pro chips, plans refresh of entire iPad lineup
Apple is preparing a major refresh of its iPad lineup alongside new versions of the Mac Studio. At the same time, the company has reportedly abandoned plans for future Mac Pro development.
That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter.
Apple abandons its most powerful Mac chips
Apple had been developing the M2 Extreme and M3 Extreme processors, which were expected to power future generations of the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro lineup was effectively discontinued in March.
According to Gurman, the chips would have offered twice as many CPU and GPU cores as Apple's Ultra-series processors.
- Apple ultimately canceled both projects because of high production costs and concerns over limited demand. The company also built two Mac Pro prototypes that never made it to market.
- Those prototypes, codenamed J170 and J190, were both scrapped before launch.
- The J170 was originally designed around an Intel processor despite Apple's transition to Apple Silicon, while the J190 was expected to feature the M3 Ultra and launch alongside the Mac Studio in early 2025.
The last Mac Pro, released in 2023, shipped with the M2 Ultra but cost roughly twice as much as a similarly equipped Mac Studio.
Gurman believes Apple is unlikely to revive the Mac Pro anytime soon, if ever. Instead, the company could introduce an updated Mac Studio with the M5 Ultra as early as this fall.
"As for the future, I don't anticipate Apple bringing back the Mac Pro anytime soon — if ever. New Mac Studios with M5 Ultra chips, meanwhile, are coming as early as this fall," Gurman writes.
iPad refresh is on the way
A new iPad mini is expected to launch later this year. In 2027, Apple is planning updates for the entry-level iPad, as well as the iPad Air and iPad Pro.
Gurman also pointed to another round of price increases across Apple's services.
"The company is continuing its price hikes, raising the cost of AppleCare+ subscriptions by $0.50 per month for new iPad and Mac buyers. Apple Music subscriptions also just went up," he writes.
In the latest edition of Power On, Gurman also reported that Apple left Jony Ive out of its major lawsuit against OpenAI's hardware division: