Apple drops Mac Pro plans and maps out iPad updates

Apple has reportedly stopped developing the Mac Pro and canceled the M2 Extreme and M3 Extreme chips that were once expected to give its flagship desktop a major boost. According to Bloomberg, citing Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter, Apple is now focusing on the Mac Studio with a new generation of processors while spacing out iPad updates over the next few years.

Gurman says the Extreme chips were dropped because of manufacturing costs and doubts that a new Mac Pro would attract a large enough audience. That marks a sharp turn for Apple, which only a few years ago tried to revive interest in its high-end professional desktop after a long pause.

Apple’s strongest Mac sellers remain the MacBook and iMac, while ultra-expensive workstations move much more slowly. In that context, the Mac Studio has carved out a clear middle ground between mainstream desktops and the top-end Mac Pro. The last Mac Pro with M2 Ultra, released in 2023, delivered comparable performance at roughly twice the price of a Mac Studio, a gap that was hard to justify even for many professionals.

Mac Pro prototypes that never shipped

According to Gurman, Apple built not only the canceled M2 Extreme and M3 Extreme projects, but also two Mac Pro prototypes that never reached the market.

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• J170 was supposed to ship with an Intel chip, despite Apple’s shift to its own silicon.
• J190 was designed around M3 Ultra and was expected to launch alongside the Mac Studio in early 2025.

The uneven Mac Pro history reflects a broader problem for Apple: the machine is too expensive for most buyers, but too closed-off for users who prefer highly modular workstations. By contrast, the Mac Studio offers similar performance, a smaller chassis, and pricing that is easier to swallow.

Apple’s position also differs from the wider professional PC market. At Lenovo, HP, and Dell, workstations are often sustained by enterprise purchasing and niche workloads such as editing, 3D rendering, and scientific computing. Apple’s share of that segment has always been smaller, and the move to Apple silicon only intensified the question of whether the Mac Pro still makes sense in its old form. Gurman says a Mac Studio with M5 Ultra could arrive in the fall.

iPad refresh timeline and service price increases

At the same time, Apple is spreading iPad updates across nearly the entire lineup. A new iPad mini is expected in 2024, while the base iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro are, according to Gurman, set for refreshed versions in 2027.

There are no hardware details yet, but the schedule suggests Apple is not sidelining its tablets. The company continues to compete in the premium tier through its ecosystem, chips, and accessories, even as Samsung, Lenovo, and Huawei push tablets as broader devices for work and study.

Gurman also says AppleCare+ for new iPad and Mac buyers will rise by 50 cents per month, and Apple Music has also recently become more expensive. That gives Apple another revenue stream beyond hardware, with subscriptions typically carrying higher margins.

If Gurman’s forecast is correct, the Mac Studio decision could become clearer as soon as the fall, while the new iPad mini could arrive before the end of 2024.