Apple came closer than anyone knew to giving the Mac Pro a second life before pulling the plug on its flagship desktop.
A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple abandoned multiple high-end Mac Pro projects, including two unreleased processors known internally as the M2 Extreme and M3 Extreme, as well as two desktop models that never reached customers.
The company reportedly canceled the efforts over cost concerns and weak demand before discontinuing the Mac Pro in March.
What Apple reportedly canceled
According to Bloomberg, Apple initially planned to build an “Extreme” tier of Apple silicon that would sit above its Ultra chips. The processors were designed to deliver roughly twice the CPU and GPU core counts of Ultra models, giving the Mac Pro a clear performance advantage over the Mac Studio.
However, Apple reportedly shelved both the M2 Extreme and M3 Extreme chips after deciding the cost of developing and producing them outweighed expected demand for such an expensive workstation.
The report also says Apple developed two unreleased Mac Pro models.
One, codenamed J170, reportedly used an Intel processor despite Apple’s transition to its own chips already being underway. Gurman said the system was intended to support “certain uses,” though no additional details were provided.
The second, J190, was reportedly an M3 Ultra-powered Mac Pro that was expected to launch alongside the M3 Ultra Mac Studio in early 2025 before Apple canceled it.
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Why the Mac Pro disappeared
Apple’s move away from the Mac Pro had been building for some time.
The last Apple silicon Mac Pro shipped with the same M2 Ultra processor found in the Mac Studio while carrying a significantly higher price. Aside from PCIe expansion slots and its tower design, the two systems offered similar performance, making it difficult for many professional users to justify the premium.
Meanwhile, Apple continued updating the Mac Studio while the Mac Pro remained on 2023 hardware until it was discontinued earlier this year. Bloomberg reports Apple is instead preparing new Mac Studio models powered by M5 Ultra chips as early as this fall.
Looking beyond the cancellation
Apple’s reported decision highlights a broader shift in its desktop strategy. Rather than maintaining two premium desktop lines with overlapping capabilities, Apple appears to be concentrating its engineering resources on the Mac Studio, where it can serve most professional users with a smaller, less expensive product. That simplifies the lineup and avoids building specialized chips for what is likely a relatively small customer base.
The tradeoff is that professionals who relied on the Mac Pro’s unique expandability now have fewer options within Apple’s ecosystem.
Unless Apple revisits the category, those users may have to adapt their workflows around the Mac Studio or look elsewhere for highly customizable workstation hardware.
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