Apple may let the Mac Studio languish for years so more people buy the Mac Pro

It’s been about 11 months since Apple surprised us with the launch of the all-new Mac Studio with M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips, which was largely seen as a precursor to the Mac Pro. According to a new report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it’s a little too close to the Mac Pro.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman claims that Apple is unlike to launch a new Mac Studio “in the near future.” As he explains, the upcoming Mac Pro “is very similar in functionality to the Mac Studio,” and Apple will likely delay its chip upgrade by at least a generation so buyers aren’t confused.

Gurman says Apple is more likely to “never update the Mac Studio or hold off until the M3 or M4 generation” when it “may be able to better differentiate the Mac Studio from the Mac Pro.” The Mac Pro is expected to have an M2 Ultra chip but few expandability options beyond internal storage slots.

In our review of the new M2 Mac mini, we noted the potential for overlap with the Mac Studio. As it stands, the M2 Pro Mac mini with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage costs $1,999, the same price as the Mac Studio with an M1 Mac processor, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. If the Mac Studio was to get an M2 upgrade, there would be little reason to buy an M2 Pro Mac mini.

Apple is expected to announce the Mac Pro this year, either at WWDC or in the fall. It is the final Mac to still have an Intel processor, following the launch of the M2 Pro Mac mini in January to replace the aging Core i5 Intel model.