However, the M2 Extreme plans have been put on cold ice, reportedly. According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple “has likely scrapped that higher-end configuration.” The company decided to do so because of the complexity involved in making such a powerful processor. Apple supposedly wants to divert its chipmaking resources in the direction of more mainstream processors that sell in higher volumes.
The other reason cited in the report is the high cost of making the “Extreme” chip, which essentially amounts to four M1 Max processors cobbled together. Gurman’s rough estimates put the price of an M2 Extreme-powered Mac in the $10,000 price bracket. That’s a lot of money to spend on a niche machine targeted solely at creative professionals without any serious gaming benefits to boot.
Gurman speculates that the M2 Extreme-fuelled Mac Pro upgrade was shaping up to be a “niche product that likely isn’t worth the development costs, engineering resources and production bandwidth it would require.” Instead, Apple has reportedly decided to put an M2 Ultra chip inside the next-gen Mac Pro, essentially putting it in the same computing firepower ballpark as the current-get Mac Studio.
