Apple reportedly canceled Extreme chip for a future Mac Pro

There is little reason to buy at the moment Mac Pro more than one Mac Studio Configured with M2 Ultra chip. That’s because Apple reportedly canceled plans for the top-tier M2 Extreme chip apple.

A new report suggests that history may be about to repeat itself, and the Extreme chips planned for future Mac Pro models may now be in question. In the worst-case scenario, this might not be a truly new Mac Pro for years to come…

The current Mac Pro does not have an Extreme chip

It is believed that Apple originally planned to equip the current Mac Pro with an M2 Extreme chip, effectively doubling the performance of the M2 Ultra. Bloomberg reported the plan Back in 2022, it was later reported that Chip canceled Due to complexity and cost issues.

This puts the current Mac Pro in a rather awkward position, since it has the exact same M2 Ultra chip as the high-end Mac Studio:

Yes, the Mac Pro has a larger case, better ventilation, and theoretically less thermal throttling, But testing shows This is not the case in actual usage. This leaves PCIe slots as the only advantage on pricier machines, which only makes things neater if you want to add Thunderbolt storage.

Another Extreme chip has been canceled

exist message Report Partnership between Apple and Broadcom For new artificial intelligence server chips, bold fireball An interesting element is quoted:

Two people familiar with the matter said that Apple’s chip design team in Israel is leading the development of artificial intelligence chips. The team was instrumental in designing the processors Apple launched in 2020 to replace Intel chips in Macs.

Last summer, Apple canceled development of the Mac’s high-performance chip, which is made up of four smaller chips spliced ​​together, to free up some engineers in Israel to develop the artificial intelligence chip, a person familiar with the matter said, underscoring the company’s Shift priorities.

In other words, Apple has canceled another M-something Extreme chip. But which one?

Some believe the report means Apple has canceled the M4 Extreme chip for the 2025 Mac Pro, but as Gruber points out, that doesn’t make sense.

But if Apple only canceled development of the quad-plug M-series chips “last summer” and it was for a generation using TSMC’s next-generation N3P process, then that means it will be for the M5 or M6 generation, not the M4. The 2 M4 generation is built using TSMC’s N3E process, and any other variants besides the M4 Max (the Mac Studio and Mac Pro scheduled to be updated next year) have been designed long before this summer.

So yesterday’s report didn’t tell us anything about whether the 2025 Mac Pro will feature an M4 Extreme chip. Either it has already been developed and will be launched in new machines, or the reasons why Apple decided not to use the M2 Extreme chip still apply, and it won’t. Regardless, the decision has been made.

However, it does indicate a gap ahead – the cancellation of the M5 Extreme

However, canceling development of future Extreme chips does mean there will be no M5 version, and perhaps no M6 version either.

worst case scenario

If the M4 Extreme chip is already in production, then things aren’t that bad for those looking to buy a new Mac Pro. They could upgrade to a 2025 Mac Pro with an M4 Extreme, and then there would be no real updates in 2025, and maybe not in 2026 either.

This is already a problem for the wealthiest buyers – movie studios and the like, who upgrade every year because money is no object. But for others, the Mac Pro is a machine they’ve kept for years.

But if Apple has canceled the M4 Extreme for the same reasons it abandoned the M2 Extreme, that could mean there won’t be a real Mac Pro upgrade until 2026 or 2027. Very The waiting time is very long.

photo: apple