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Apple quietly killed two Mac Pro models
Apple reportedly canceled two unreleased Mac Pro projects, including an Intel-based version and an M3 Ultra model planned for early 2025.
Image: MacRumors
Apple developed two Mac Pro models that never shipped, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman — one of them even used an Intel processor years after Apple completed its move to Apple silicon.
In his latest “Power On” newsletter, Gurman said Apple worked on two unreleased Mac Pro projects, codenamed J170 and J190, before discontinuing the machine altogether this year.
According to Gurman, J170 was a new Intel-based Mac Pro intended to support certain use cases. He did not say what those “certain uses” were, but the project suggests Apple considered keeping an x86 option for some professional workflows even after its Mac transition was complete.
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The other canceled model, J190, was reportedly an M3 Ultra Mac Pro that had been slated to launch alongside the M3 Ultra Mac Studio in early 2025. It would have combined the same chip used in that Mac Studio with the Mac Pro’s PCIe expansion slots, one of the few features that set it apart from the rest of Apple’s Mac lineup.
Neither system reached market. Gurman said Apple has now discontinued the Mac Pro entirely, ending the product’s 20-year run. The machine had remained stuck on the M2 Ultra introduced in 2023, while the Mac Studio kept getting updates. At the same time, the Mac Pro cost roughly double a similarly configured Mac Studio while delivering essentially the same performance.
The canceled J170 and J190 projects follow other abandoned Mac Pro plans. Gurman said Apple had also been developing “Extreme” chip variants with twice the CPU and GPU cores of its Ultra chips for a future Mac Pro, but dropped those efforts over cost and demand concerns.
He added that he does not expect Apple to revive the Mac Pro “anytime soon — if ever.” Apple is instead expected to update the Mac Studio with M5 Ultra chips as early as this fall.
Computing Editor
Tomas lives in the terminal. He covers chips, laptops, and operating systems with a focus on performance and efficiency. He reads kernel changelogs the way other people read fiction, and he's always on the hunt for the perfect mechanical keyboard switch. If it processes data, Tomas has an opinion on it.
via MacRumors
