Does Mac Studio have its days numbered? According to Mark Gurman, it is a possibility that Apple would be considering seriously. And it would not be due to discontent with respect to its performance —both technical and in sales—, but because it would be necessary to give air to its catalog of computers for the launch of the expected renewal of Mac Pro.
The journalist from Bloomberg explained in power onhis newsletter Sunday, what did not anticipate the introduction of a new Mac Studio in the immediate future. So we would go through 2023 without running into an updated version with M2 Max or the not yet announced M2 Ultra. And it even opened the door to the possibility that we may never see him again.
As we already said, the reason for such drastic determination would be none other than avoid a product overlap with the next Mac Pro. According to Gurman, the Mac Pro would be “very similar in capabilities” to the Mac Studio, since it would launch with the M2 Ultra. Therefore, it would be nonsense for Apple to introduce two computers with the same hardware and practically identical features almost simultaneously.
What the analyst raises makes sense. In fact, how long the Mac Studio would have a useful life was a debate that started as soon as Apple introduced it in March 2022. Since then, it has been said that unless the next generation Mac Pro arrives with specifications that open a significant gap, the probability of overlap between the two teams was very high. An argument that gained strength with the rumor that Apple canceled the Mac Pro with the M2 Extreme chip to focus on one that would squeeze all the juice out of the M2 Ultra.
It is also a reality that leveling the Mac Studio down would not make sense. What do I mean by this? That if Apple reserved the M2 Ultra for the next Mac Pro and started offering a new Mac Studio, but with M2 Max and M2 Pro chips, it would clash with the newly revamped Mac mini, which is now available with the M2 and M2 Pro. And keep the Mac Studio with M2 Max alone could make it a very niche variant. Whatever its hypothetical future, the story would not look good.
Apple could abandon the Mac Studio, in favor of the Mac Pro
Like everything related to rumors of future Apple products, what Mark Gurman says should be taken with a grain of salt. Now, is the door completely closed to seeing a new Mac Studio in the future? Today it is difficult to say, but if there is a chance that the product will survive, it could be several years until we see it on the market again.
“It’s more likely that Apple will never update Mac Studio or wait until next generation.” [de chips] M3 or M4. By then, the company may be able to better differentiate the Mac Studio from the Mac Pro,” the journalist explained.
The optics of the referent Bloomberg makes quite a bit of sense. But we must not forget that, in recent times, Apple has shown a peculiar aversion to “killing” products that should no longer be in your catalog. The most notorious case is that of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip and touch barwhich when it launched was stuck in an odd space between the MacBook Air M2 and the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with the M1 Pro and M1 Max.
Thus, the last word regarding the fate of the Mac Studio is far from said. Let’s not forget that Apple took more than two years to update the Mac mini, and that the iMac also awaits a much-needed facelift. We’ll see how the final launch roadmap for those from Cupertino looks for 2023.