Gurman: A smaller Mac Pro using Apple silicon is coming 'later next year'

2019 Mac Pro (Image credit: Rene Ritchie / iMore)

What you need to know

Apple's Mac Pro looks set to get a smaller sibling running Apple silicon.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the new, smaller Apple silicon Mac Pro will arrive towards the end of 2022.

Apple is set to bring Apple silicon to the Mac Pro "later next year" according to a new report, but it won't be the main Mac Pro that we've come to love. Instead, it'll be a new, smaller version of the powerhouse machine.

According to Gurman's latest Power On newsletter, Apple plans to have a "revamped, smaller Mac Pro with Apple silicon" ready for "later next year," although that could presumably change as the months wind on.

Despite Apple's intention to launch a Mac Pro mini — Mac mini Pro? — machine, the traditional Mac Pro is still set to get an Inte-powered refresh. We recently heard rumors around that and Gurman again pointed to a traditional Mac Pro update coming at some point.

The Apple silicon Mac Pro looks set to be around half the size of a traditional Mac Pro, but with some serious power. As many as 40 cores are being rumored for what will surely become the go-to Mac for creatives and developers. While an Intel Mac may still be the best Mac to some who have very specific workflows, most will surely lean towards the Apple silicon option. Especially if it's a smaller form factor to boot.

While we shouldn't expect Apple to bring any of this to market this year, we still have a ton to look forward to before 2021 comes to a close. New iPhones, Apple Watches, and even some Macs are thought to be on the horizon before Santa comes calling.

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.