Recent reporting by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests that Apple is creating a new Mac Pro including an M2 “Extreme” CPU.
In 2020, the M1 processor debuted in the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and 24-inch iMac, marking the beginning of the switch from Intel chips to Apple’s own ARM-based chips for the Mac after years of conjecture.
The M1 Pro and M1 Max for 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros were released in 2021, and the M1 Ultra for the new Mac Studio was introduced in 2022.
It has been expected for more than two years that Apple will release a Mac Pro using Apple silicon, as this model is one of the few remaining Intel-based Macs on the market. Apple even hinted to the debut of the Apple silicon Mac Pro during this year’s “Peek Performance” presentation by saying, “that’s for another day.”
According to Gurman, both the M2 Ultra and the M2 Extreme chipsets will be available to customers when they order the new Mac Pro. With a 20-core central processing unit (CPU), up to a 64-core graphics processing unit (GPU), and a 32-core neural engine, Apple’s M1 Ultra is the most powerful bespoke silicon chip currently in production.
The M2 Extreme, which would replace the Ultra in Apple’s portfolio, would supposedly outperform its predecessor and become the company’s flagship silicon processor.
Apple reportedly has plans to release an M2 Extreme with a 48-core CPU, 160-core GPU cores, and up to 384GB of RAM, so its list of top-tier products doesn’t finish with the Ultra.
In addition, Apple is working on a 3nm technology that would allow even higher transistor densities, but it is unknown when these would arrive. However, a recent rumor did hint that a 3nm process might come to Macs before the iPhone 15 is released.
