Apple’s high-performance Mac models, including Mac Studio and Mac Pro, are expected to receive significant improvements in 2025. Here’s how much power we expect.
Upgrading Macs to M4 chips in late 2024 meant updates to half the Mac lineup, with only three models yet to be updated. This shortlist includes MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.
Since the MacBook Air is already on the M3 platform, the 2 high-performance models surprisingly lag behind. Both the Mac Studio and Mac Pro use M2 generation chips and will definitely receive an update.
Here’s what the rumor mill has been discussing concerning the Mac Pro and Mac Studio and their potential improvements.
Late arrival
Perhaps the largest query regarding incoming updates is when you possibly can expect them. Unfortunately, the rumor mill is pessimistic on this matter.
The most evident time for Apple to introduce latest versions of its powerful Mac computers is at WWDC 2025. This has happened before, when Apple showcased its best Mac computers to an appreciative audience of developers.
This also comes after the expected launch of the MacBook Air M4 earlier this yr. An update to the last line of non-Max and Ultra products would allow the Ultra version to be introduced because the last generation of the M4.
Previous rumors from 2024 indicated that the Pro and Studio models wouldn’t be updated until mid-2025. It further stated that the models would likely be released within the second half of 2025.
It’s entirely possible that Apple could announce an M4 update for the models during WWDC, which might be made available later this yr.
Either way, these releases will change into a reality for users in just a few months.
Chipless changes or not
As with a brand new product update, there’s a likelihood that Apple could make design changes at the identical time. This is a slim likelihood, nevertheless, as Apple tends to reuse the identical design for multiple generations before releasing an improved design.
insisted in August 2024 that not less than one among the upcoming launches would have a “dramatic change” from the present design. The problem is that the prediction was for the discharge of a revised Mac mini, and this will have been the model that Mark Gurman was talking about, since he didn’t detail the changes to the model.
Gurman’s prediction actually opened the door to updates for other models, including Mac Studio and Mac Pro. However, this remains to be a really small likelihood.
Mac Studio can keep its design for an additional generation
Mac Studio has been around for 2 generations in its current design, so it’s unlikely to see an update. It’s quite tightly packed for a high-performance device, however it seems unlikely that Apple will do anything radical with the design at this stage.
However, the Mac Pro has undergone more frequent changes between generations, although in its current design it is usually within the second generation. However, it’s more likely that the Mac Pro shall be redesigned attributable to the novel change in internals from the Intel-based model to the Apple Silicon version.
With such a big change in architecture, it is probably going that Apple may propose a brand new case design. One that also allows for model upgrades, but probably in a smaller form.
So if these two solutions look more like spec updates reasonably than massive overhauls, the main focus will shift to what to anticipate from chip updates.
If Apple follows within the footsteps of the M2 generation, we are able to expect the M4 Max and M4 Ultra Mac Studio and M4 Ultra Mac Pro models.
We already know what the M4 Max will bring to consumers in Mac Studio, now that the chip is already available within the Mac Pro. Initial benchmark tests of the M4 Max have shown that the newest iteration is significantly more efficient than even the M2 Ultra relating to single- and multi-core performance.
Since we all know the specifications and benchmark results for the Max and Ultra versions of the M1 and M2, we could potentially extrapolate the outcomes for the M4.
The M1 and M2 Ultra chips are significantly faster than the M1 and M2 Max for a straightforward reason: Apple used two Max chips to create the Ultra. Using the interconnect, Apple linked two Max chips together and called them Ultra, doubling the CPU and GPU cores, memory limit and more.
This, in fact, includes doubling the variety of Neural Engine cores within the Ultra models, from 16 cores within the Max chips to 32 within the Ultra.
There also needs to be a big improvement in memory capability, as Ultra models normally have much larger amounts of memory available. For example, the M2 Max Mac Studio has as much as 96 GB of memory, while the M2 Ultra version offers as much as 192 GB.
In the case of the M4 Max, which may be configured in a MacBook Pro with 128 GB memory, this might mean a capability of not less than 256 GB in M4 Ultra devices.
Of course, this does not directly mean that the Ultra models are twice as fast because the Max versions, however it does mean that the differences in results needs to be quite predictable. That is, if Apple applies the identical techniques in every generation.
From Geekbench, we all know that the single-core scores of the M1 Ultra and M2 Ultra are inside just a few points of their maximum counterparts. This is smart because Geekbench only measures the performance of the fastest core, no matter what number of cores there are.
In terms of multi-core performance, overall the advance from Max to Ultra is 45% relating to the best spec versions of every chip. This means 20-core M1 Ultra vs. 10-core M1 Max, and 24-core M2 Ultra vs. 12-core M2 Max in Mac Studio.
The same technique can be applied to Metal scores, used to measure GPU performance.
Geekbench single core scores
The M1 Max Metal rating of 105,000 for the 32-core GPU increased to over 161,000 for the 64-core Ultra GPU, a 53% improvement. That’s the identical number when you go from 145,000 to 222,000 for the 38-core M2 Max GPU and the 76-core M2 Ultra.
Using these improvement percentages, that are quite similar across generations, we are able to extrapolate using an M4 Mac to a MacBook Pro. The one in query has a 16-core CPU and a 40-core GPU, so the equivalent of the M4 Ultra shall be a 32-core CPU and an 80-core GPU.
In the 16-inch MacBook Pro benchmarks, the single-core rating was 3,930. Expect the Ultra to realize an analogous rating.
Geekbench multi-core test results
For the multi-core version, the M4 Max reaches 25,735. With a forty five% improvement, the M4 Ultra could rating 37,315 points.
The Metal rating of 187,645 on the M4 Max could also increase by 53% to 287,096 on the M4 Ultra.
Geekbench Metal Score
All of those extrapolations are based on Mac Studio since the Mac Pro only uses the M2 Ultra chip. A check of the information shows that the M2 Ultra within the Mac Pro is comparable to chips of the identical spec within the Mac Studio.
Since they’re quite similar, you possibly can expect an analogous level of performance on the M4 Ultra on the Mac Pro as on the Mac Studio version. This means a really high level of performance.
Questionable interconnect
This extrapolation is theoretical and based on whether Apple will proceed to make use of existing techniques to create powerful Ultra chips. Some rumors have questioned this and things could also be different this time.
The lack of an M3 Ultra version has led some to look at the M3 Max chip more closely some reports insisting that the M3 Max doesn’t have the flexibility to make use of the UltraFusion interconnect. At the time, there was speculation that the M3 Ultra could eventually change into a single, discrete chip, reasonably than combining two.
UltraFusion in M1 Ultra – photo: Apple
Of course, nobody aside from Apple knows whether the M3 Ultra can be released as a standalone chip or not. However, these reports can’t be understood as Apple completely moving away from interconnects.
Given that Apple has control over its chip development roadmap, it’s entirely possible that it’s going to determine to release the M3 Ultra and easily design the M3 Max with that in mind. There is a possibility that UltraFusion will return to the M4 Ultra and Apple will proceed to operate normally.
One report that seemingly helps the narrative around interconnect usage is the report regarding the apparent cancellation of the chip.
In December, it was claimed that Apple had discontinued work on a high-performance chip for Mac computers that might be called “M4 Extreme.” The chip concept was to further develop the interconnection concept by combining 4 M4 Max chips.
If this were to be a reality, it will mean a chip with a 64-core CPU, 160-core GPU, 64-core Neural Engine, and a maximum memory capability of not less than 512 GB.
Given that such a chip can be a boon to the event of artificial intelligence, with such a big concentration of neural engine and graphics processor cores, this might come true sooner or later.
It is unknown whether this time shall be the identical because the M4 Ultra.
