Apple has already confirmed that a new Mac Pro is in the pipeline, but beyond that affirmation, the company remains tight-lipped on specific detailsabout its upcoming system. However, a new leak has provided some interesting information pertaining to the 2022 Mac Pro, particularly concerning its processor.
In terms of when the 2022 Mac Pro is expected to launch, LeaksApplePro’s sources point toward an official unveiling in the coming months, which indicates an announcement at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. The leaker mentioned that Apple will ship the system during the third quarter, instead of a summer release, with September said to be the intended target.
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Also included in the leak is an insight into what sort of technical performance the 2022 Mac Pro will offer. As reported by NotebookCheck, the new Mac Pro will feature two M1 Ultra systems on a chip (SoCs), according to tipster Majin Bu. Apple has reportedly code-named the dual M1 Ultra SoC configuration Redfern.
Interestingly, a tweet backs up this particular claim, showing what appears to be an internal image of a bridge depicting the combination of two M1 Ultra chips. The bridge itself is apparently code-named “DAISYXL,” which is based on Apple’s UltraFusion architecture.
Theoretically, the integration of two M1 Ultra SoCs could technically power the Mac Pro with 256GB of RAM. Comparatively, NotebookCheck highlights how the recently announced Mac Studio is limited to 128GB of unified memory due to the inclusion of a single M1 Ultra chip.
Elsewhere, well-known Apple insider Mark Gurman has once again reported that Apple is indeed working on a dual M1 Ultra chip called “Extreme” that purportedly comes with 40 CPU cores alongside 128 GPU cores. A less powerful model with 96 GPU cores is said to be in the works as well.
Image source: @MajinBuOfficial
The M1 Ultra was revealed during Apple’s Peek Performance event on March 8, with the company claiming the die is “the world’s most powerful chip for a personal computer.” That statement was put to the test by several leaked benchmarks, which show Apple’s latest chip holding its own against other flagship chips. Don’t expect the M1 Ultra to be faster than an RTX 3090 GPU, though.
Regardless of the technical specifications of the upgraded Mac Pro, it will be yet another Mac product that has transitioned away from Intel chips in favor of Apple’s own silicon.
As for Apple’s plans beyond the continuation of the Mac Pro lineup, a separate leak from LeaksApplePro mentioned a June launch for the M2 chip-based MacBook Pro 13, followed by the M2 MacBook Air hitting store shelves in September or October. The existence of these M2-powered Macs is further corroborated by 9to5Mac’s sources.