Mac Pro: M4 Ultra still on the way?
According to a code leak, Apple is still working on an Ultra version of the current M4 SoC. This is said to be intended for a new Mac Pro model.
Apple Mac Pro: Currently stuck with the M2 Ultra.
(Image: Apple)
While there was an Ultra version of each of Apple's M1, M2 and M3 chips, which bundles two of the SoCs using Silicon Interposer ("UltraFusion Interconnect"), there has not yet been such a version of the current M4. Instead, Apple offers the current Mac Studio, released last March, with either M4 Max or M3 Ultra –, which is quite confusing for buyers. According to a report in the American Macworld, an M4 Ultra could follow after all. At least that's what it seems from code leaks that the magazine claims to have discovered in internal Apple material.
Has Apple fixed the M4 Ultra problem?
Author Filipe Esposito writes in the exclusive report that there is "evidence" in Apple's own code that an M4 Ultra upgrade is planned – for a new model of the Mac Pro. This is currently completely outdated: Apple last equipped it with an M2 Ultra in June 2023, over two years ago. Since then, professionals have been waiting for an updated version of the expandable workstation, but only the Mac Studio has been equipped with newer chips.
According to Macworld, a new high-end Mac Pro computer houses a chip with the internal identifier t8152, codenamed "Hidra". This matches an "M4 Ultra", which is not yet on the market. In January 2025, Bloomberg reported that Apple would expand the M4 chip family with an Ultra model. But nothing came of it. Instead, Apple introduced the unusual combination of M4 Max and M3 Ultra in the Mac Studio, while the Mac Pro remained unchanged. It is unclear why Apple did not succeed in creating an UltraFusion interconnect variant of the M4 Max – an "M4 Extreme" variant, which would have combined two Ultras, is said to have been discontinued internally after alleged difficulties with the manufacturing process.
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M5 in the Mac from next year
However, some time has passed since then and manufacturer TSMC may have resolved the issue. A Mac Pro with M4 Ultra would presumably have at least 32 CPU cores and up to 80 GPU cores – and start with 96 GB of RAM, writes Macworld. Observers had actually expected Apple to equip the next Mac Pro with the M5 processor. It is expected for the first time in the fall and will probably initially only be installed in the iPad Pro before it lands in the first Macs in the spring.
However, the M4 Ultra might be attractive enough to at least persuade professionals to buy it. Apple only has a very exclusive target group with the Mac Pro anyway: the manufacturer's current entry-level price as a tower is a whopping 8299 euros.
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