Apple discontinues the Mac Pro
Apple has confirmed the discontinuation of the Mac Pro with no plans for future hardware updates. The move positions the Mac Studio as the primary high-end desktop option in Apple's lineup.
It’s the end of an era: Apple has confirmed to 9to5Mac that the Mac Pro is being discontinued. It has been removed from Apple’s website as of Thursday afternoon. The “buy” page on Apple’s website for the Mac Pro now redirects to the Mac’s homepage, where all references have been removed.
Apple has also confirmed to 9to5Mac that it has no plans to offer future Mac Pro hardware.
Mac Studio is the future
The Mac Pro has lived many lives over the years. Apple released the current Mac Pro industrial design in 2019 alongside the Pro Display XDR (which was also discontinued earlier this month). That version of the Mac Pro was powered by Intel, and Apple refreshed it with the M2 Ultra chip in June 2023. It has gone without an update since then, languishing at its $6,999 price point even as Apple debuted the M3 Ultra chip in the Mac Studio last year.
With that in mind, the Mac Studio is clearly set up to be the ‘pro’ desktop Mac of the future in Apple’s lineup. The Mac Studio can be configured with the M3 Ultra chip and a 32-core CPU and an 80-core GPU, paired with 256GB of unified memory and 16TB of SSD storage.
With the discontinuation of Mac Pro today, Apple now sells three desktop Macs:
- Mac mini
- iMac
- Mac Studio
And three laptops:
- MacBook Air
- MacBook Pro
- MacBook Neo
To me, this is the strongest Mac lineup in years, and perhaps the strongest Mac lineup ever. This is especially true with the recent addition of the MacBook Neo in the entry-level spot. There are options spanning dramatically different price points, configurations, and form factors.
Furthermore, with the release of macOS Tahoe 26.2 last year, Apple added a new low-latency feature that lets you use RDMA over Thunderbolt 5 to connect multiple Macs together. This gives Mac users at the ultra-high-end of the market another way to scale performance. At the time, many speculated this feature could be another nail in the Mac Pro’s coffin.
Ultimately, Apple needed to make a decision to either update the Mac Pro or discontinue it. Continuing to sell it with the M2 Ultra at such a high price was a disservice to Mac shoppers. I think Apple made the right call by discontinuing it and prioritizing the Mac Studio going forward.
Of course, there will undoubtedly be some Mac Pro loyalists disappointed by today’s news. But the writing has been on the wall for a while.
Source: Hacker News
