Launching the ARM-based Apple Silicon chips at the Worldwide Developer Conference 2020, Tim Cook and his team stated that the whole Mac range would switch to Apple Silicon by the end of 2022. Now we’re in the second half of that final year, and the second generation chipset has debuted with the M2 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
And there’s one big gap in the portfolio. We’ve still to see an Apple Silicon Mac Pro, and the latest news is that an M1-based Mac Pro will not be released.
Apple’s new Mac Pro sits on display in the showroom during Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference … [+]
Mac Pro fans should not fear, though. Apple is going to skip over the first generation and turn the M2 architecture up to 11 with the quietly named M2 Extreme. The details come from noted Apple watcher Mark Gurman:
“Rumors had originally assumed the Mac Pro would be announced during WWDC with an M1 variant, perhaps higher than the M1 Ultra. That didn’t pan out, and now, with the existence of the M2 processor, the Mac Pro may not arrive for a long time.
“Gurman believes the Mac Pro with “M2 Extreme” could be announced by the end of 2022, but wouldn’t be released until mid-2023 at the earliest. Apple could also announce new iPad Pros with M2 and more in the same time period.”
Does an announcement at the end of 2022 and availability in 2023 satisfy the original WWDC intentions? That’s an answer with a tinge of grey to it. Gurman suggests that Apple could have met the deadline with an M1-based Mac Pro but has decided against it. Given the current issues in the supply chain and concerns around the global economy, this may be readily justifiable on the business side of things.
As for the public perception, much will depend on the mood of the strong voices in Apple’s community labelling this as either a missed goal or a sensible strategy. It can of course, be both.
