Apple reportedly working on 'Mac Studio' to sit between Mac mini and Mac Pro

Mac Mini M (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Apple is rumored to be working on a new Mac Studio machine.
The Mac Studio is thought to be similar to Mac mini but with more powerful internals.
No timescale has been given for the product's release.

Apple is reportedly working on a new type of Mac that would sit between the Mac mini and Mac Pro in its desktop lineup. The machine, dubbed Mac Studio, is expected to look similar to a Mac mini but with more powerful internals.

While the Mac Studio name could change, a new 9to5Mac report says that it will upgrade the Apple silicon to one of two possibilities — an M1 Max similar to the MacBook Pro or a new chip that's even more capable. Both are reportedly being tested.

Based on information seen by 9to5Mac, the new Mac Studio is primarily based on the Mac mini, but with much more powerful hardware. Apple has two versions of Mac Studio under development. One features the M1 Max chip (the same as the 2021 MacBook Pro) and the other a variant of the Apple Silicon chip that is even more powerful than the current M1 Max.

The new machine is said to carry the designation J375 inside Apple and is likely to be aimed squarely at people who want a professional machine but would rather not go the MacBook Pro route.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in August of last year that Apple was working on a 'smaller Mac Pro' that would be launched in 2022. That could well be this machine being reported on today. If true, we could see as many as 40 cores being offered in what would likely be the upgraded M1 Max chip mentioned earlier in this report.

If all of this comes to fruition we can expect the standard Mac mini to hang around with the new Mac Studio replacing the current Intel i7 Mac mini that Apple continues to sell. No timescales for any of this have been shared, although Apple does have an event planned for next week that is expected to see at least one new Mac announced.

If this machine does ship we can expect it to be the best Mac for a whole ton of professionals that find themselves tethered to a desk.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.