Apple originally had much bigger plans for the Mac Pro before deciding to discontinue the product in March 2026. According to a Bloomberg report, the company intended to keep the Mac Pro as its most powerful desktop computer by equipping it with processors that would significantly outperform the chips used in the Mac Studio. However, as the Mac Studio became increasingly powerful while remaining much more affordable, Apple eventually canceled those plans and removed the Mac Pro from its lineup.
Reports indicate that Apple was developing new processors that would have offered roughly twice the CPU and GPU cores of the Ultra chips available at the time. Earlier rumors referred to one of these chips as the M2 Extreme, and the latest report suggests that both M2 and M3 versions were under development. Despite their impressive performance potential, Apple reportedly abandoned the project because manufacturing costs were too high and the company was uncertain whether enough customers would purchase such an expensive workstation.
The report also reveals that Apple was planning two different Mac Pro models. One model, codenamed J190, would have featured an M3 Ultra processor and was expected to launch alongside the M3 Ultra Mac Studio in 2025. The second model, codenamed J170, was surprisingly designed to use an Intel processor even after Apple had transitioned most of its Mac lineup to Apple Silicon.
The Intel-based Mac Pro was reportedly intended for specialized professional users who relied on hardware features unavailable on Apple Silicon. One likely reason was support for PCI Express (PCIe) graphics cards, which Apple Silicon Macs do not support. This would have allowed professionals working with demanding graphics, scientific computing, or other specialized workloads to continue using expandable GPU hardware.
Although these ambitious plans never became reality, Apple is still expected to expand the Mac Studio lineup. Recent reports suggest that an M5 Ultra-powered Mac Studio could arrive before the end of 2026, while an even more powerful M7 Ultra version is reportedly planned for release in 2028.
