M3/M4 Ultra Mac Pro: Everything you need to know
Apple last updated the Mac Pro in 2023 when it was the last Mac to be outfitted with an M-series chip–three years after Apple started to use its own silicon in Macs. The Mac Pro may be on a longer update cycle than the other Macs because it’s an expensive machine with features that address the needs of a niche audience.
But if you’re part of that audience, you’ll want to know when the next model will arrive, so we’ll be tracking the news and rumors about the Mac Pro. This article includes information about the potential updates to the Mac Pro, as well as offers perspective on what those rumored updates mean to Apple’s Mac lineup.
Mac Pro M3/M4: Release date
In a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman about Apple’s plans for its AI-enhanced M4 chip, he reported that Apple could update the Mac Pro with an M4 variant in 2025 after the other Macs have been updated.
Gurman’s report did not address the possibility of an M3 Ultra Mac Pro upgrade being released between now and then. This omission seems to indicate that Apple will skip the M3 cycle and stick with the M2 Ultra until next year, which seems even more likely since Apple has launched the M4 chip in the iPad Pro.
Mac Pro M3/M4: Processor
The biggest upgrade we expect in the new Mac Pro is of course the chip. While we originally expected the Mac Pro to get an M3 Ultra update this year, it’s now looking like the Mac Pro will skip the M3 generation entirely and jump to the M4.
In his April 2024 report, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stated that the Mac Pro will be part of Apple’s AI focus and will be upgraded with an M4 with enhanced AI capabilities. Gurman did not offer any details on how those AI enhancements will be implemented or any other specifications about the M4.
At the time, Gurman said the M4 chip currently in testing was code-named Hidra. Since then, Apple unveiled the M4 chip in the iPad Pro with 6 efficiency cores, and 10 graphics processing cores. In tests, speeds were about 20 percent higher than the base M3, so the M4 Ultra, which is what will go in the Mac Pro, should be much faster than the M2 Ultra. We also know that it has an improved Neural Engine for AI features that will be discussed at WWDC.
Presumably, Hidra is an M4 Ultra-type chip. Apple’s M1 Ultra and M2 Ultra chips are essentially two Max chips that work together, but there have been reports that Apple will be changing the processor’s architecture, so we could see higher performance than in previous Ultra chips. For example, the 256GB and 512GB iPad Pro’s M4 has just 3 CPU performance cores, the first time Apple has offered a version with fewer than four cores.
Mac Pro M3/M4: Design and specs
Gurman also reported that Apple wants to dramatically increase the maximum amount of unified memory in the high-end desktop M4 Macs to 512GB. The current limit on the M2 Ultra Mac Pro is 192GB. So, the M4 Ultra Mac Pro could support more than twice the memory as the current M2 Ultra Mac Pro.
No other reports have been made about the inner workings of the upcoming Mac Pro. Because Apple wants to focus on AI, the Mac Pro could be marketed as an AI development workstation, so Apple could upgrade other components to accommodate these needs. No reports have been made about the design, either.
The next Mac Pro upgrade is expected to keep the same design, but the internal components will likely change, with the key one being a possible M4 Ultra upgrade.
Foundry
MacBook Pro M3/M4: Price
Here are the prices for the current standard base configurations of the M2 Ultra Mac Pro for reference. Apple expects customers to customer configure their orders, so prices will vary from these base specifications.
- $6,999/£7,199/CA$8,999/AU$11,999 Mac Pro Tower: M2 Ultra, 24-core CPU, 60-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine, 64GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD
- $7,499/£7,699/CA$9,599/AU$12,999 Mac Pro Rack: M2 Ultra, 24-core CPU, 60-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine, 64GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD
Pricing for the new Mac Pro has not been reported, though we expect pricing to remain the same.