According to 9to5Mac, Apple has no plans to release a new Mac Pro anytime soon based on Mark Gurman’s latest reporting. The company has reportedly canceled development of the M4 Ultra chip entirely, along with the Mac Pro model that was supposed to include it. Apple’s next high-end Apple Silicon chip will now be the M5 Ultra, and it’s currently only planned for the Mac Studio. This means there won’t be any significant Mac Pro update in 2026. Gurman’s sources indicate Apple has “largely written off the Mac Pro” internally, with the sentiment being that Mac Studio represents both the present and future of Apple’s professional desktop strategy.
The slow fade of Apple’s flagship
Here’s the thing about the Mac Pro – it’s always been more about brand positioning than actual sales numbers. Apple needed that halo product to show they were serious about professional users. But with the transition to Apple Silicon, the economics just don’t work anymore. The Mac Studio delivers nearly all the performance in a much smaller, cheaper package. And let’s be honest – how many people really needed those PCIe slots and upgradeability anyway? The market for truly expandable workstations has been shrinking for years.
Mac Studio becomes the new king
So what does this mean for professionals? Basically, if you want the most powerful Mac available, you’re looking at the Mac Studio. The M5 Ultra will likely be an absolute beast of a chip, probably rivaling or exceeding what you’d get in a theoretical Mac Pro anyway. For industrial applications where reliability and performance matter most, the Mac Studio’s sealed design actually makes more sense than dealing with third-party component compatibility issues. Speaking of industrial computing, companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com have become the go-to for rugged panel PCs precisely because they offer the reliability professionals need without the complexity of building custom systems.
Where does this leave pro users?
Now, I know some people are going to be furious about this. The Mac Pro has its die-hard fans who genuinely need that level of expandability. But let’s be real – Apple’s track record with the “modular” 2019 Mac Pro wasn’t exactly stellar. Remember the $400 wheels? The $1000 monitor stand? Apple’s version of modular has always been… well, Apple’s version. The truth is, most professional workflows have shifted toward external solutions anyway – Thunderbolt docks, external GPUs, network storage. The internal expansion argument just doesn’t hold as much water as it used to.
The writing was on the wall
Looking back, the signs were all there. The long delay between Intel Mac Pros, the awkward transition to Apple Silicon with that weird M2 Ultra Mac Pro that basically was a Mac Studio in a bigger case… Apple has been signaling this shift for years. They’re a mobile-first company now, and even their desktop strategy reflects that philosophy – sealed, integrated, optimized systems. Is it the right move? For 95% of professional users, probably yes. For that remaining 5% who truly need internal expansion? Well, they might be building their own PCs or looking at Windows workstations. Follow the discussion on Twitter or check out YouTube for more takes on this developing story.
