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According to a recent reports from Bloomberg, the high-end desktop workstation Mac Pro is currently “on the back burner” and has been “largely written off” internally at Apple Inc.
Apple is reported to be focusing its development efforts instead on the Mac Studio, specifically a new model powered by the forthcoming M5 Ultra chip. The company is “only” working on the Mac Studio version of the M5 Ultra at this time, which suggests a significant decline in priority for the Mac Pro.
What Actually Happened
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stated the following in his newsletter:
Apple’s iPhone is getting its biggest makeover yet — both to its features and release schedule. Here’s what’s happening to the company’s flagship product. Also: The Mac Pro is on the back burner, and Tesla is finally adding support for CarPlay. Lastly, Apple’s longtime operating chief wraps up his time at the company.
The Mac Pro has long been Apple’s flagship machine for highly-demanding professional workflows: things like film editing, 3-D rendering, and complex simulation tasks. Its legacy goes back through multiple generations, including the 2013 cylindrical design and the 2019 “cheese-grater” tower.
In June 2023, Apple introduced a Mac Pro featuring its own silicon: the M2 Ultra chip. That machine retained the expansion-heavy modular tower form with PCIe slots but marked the end of the Intel Mac era.
The internal shift at Apple seems to be driven by a few key factors:
- Diminishing differentiation: As noted by Gurman, the Mac Pro in recent years has become “essentially a larger and more expensive Mac Studio with PCIe expansion slots.” This erosion of distinctiveness may have prompted Apple to question its future direction.
- Resource prioritisation: With Apple advancing its chip roadmap (e.g., M5 Ultra and beyond) and embedding more high-end performance into smaller form-factors, the company appears to favour streamlined design over modular complexity.
- Market trends: As workflows shift (even in professional creative fields) and optimized Apple silicon delivers high performance in smaller machines, Apple may be responding to changing demand rather than legacy workstation expectations.
If Apple does not significantly update the Mac Pro in 2026 (or possibly later), users may need to reassess whether the Mac Studio, or other platforms that prioritise expandability, will better serve their workflows.
Is This Really Going to Happen?
For those whose work depends on high levels of customisation, such as custom GPUs, high-end PCIe cards, or multi-device I/O configurations, the diminishing emphasis on Mac Pro may require exploring non-Apple options. On the other hand, for many users who prioritise performance, efficiency and compact form-factor, the Mac Studio line may become increasingly attractive, especially if the M5 Ultra delivers substantially more performance.
Meanwhile, Apple is all set to release a Mac Studio with the M5 Ultra in early to mid-2026, positioning it as the highest-end desktop Mac offering. There is nothing official: Mac Pro will continue as such without interruption. However, there is a slight chance Apple only push out incremental updates or relegate it to a niche product tier with limited investment.
For users needing ultra-modular systems, Apple may rely on external expansion solutions or shift its strategy toward external docks and chassis rather than internal towers.
