The Mac Pro with Apple silicon might finally break cover this spring

Apr 26, 2023

The new Mac Pro might debut this spring and run macOS 13.3.

The long-awaited Apple silicon Mac Pro refresh might be just around the corner if a new report and a little bit of tea leaf reading turn out to be accurate.

The Apple silicon Mac Pro is a machine that we had hoped would arrive last year but were left disappointed. Now though, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that he's been told that the Mac Pro currently being tested is running macOS 13.3 - a version of the Mac's operating system that hasn't yet been released.

Gurman goes on to say that Apple generally releases the x.3 versions of its macOS updates in spring, suggesting that Apple could be getting macOS Ventura 13.3 ready for a spring 2023 release. If that's the case, and the software clearly has support for an Apple silicon Mac built in, it could mean that the modular machine will debut at the same time as the update.

The new Mac Pro will be the first to use Apple's own chips rather than those provided by Intel. Previous reports suggest that Apple will use a new M2 Ultra chip for the product, with Gurman recently reporting that it won't allow for upgradable RAM as had been hoped.

While the Mac Pro's M2 Ultra chip will no doubt be powerful, Apple was previously said to be working on an M2 Extreme - a part that would effectively be two M2 Ultra chips fused together and sport 48 CPU cores and 152 graphics cores. That's now not happening, we're told.

As disappointing as the lack of expandable RAM and the ditching of plans for an M2 Extreme might be, the Mac Pro is at least expected to maintain one key feature. The machine will reportedly still allow for internal graphics, media, and storage cards to be installed.

Oliver has written about technology for more than a decade, spanning some of the biggest properties in the space including Macworld, iMore, Lifewire, and Input. With a focus on mobile, gaming, and anything with a plug or a battery, he's another member of the Pocket-Lint family with too many empty boxes and not enough places to put them.