In anticipation of Apple’s announcement of an updated version of the Mac Studio on Monday, Apple’s online store is showing shipping delays of several weeks for the last remaining Intel-based Mac in Apple’s lineup, the Mac Pro.

According to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, Apple is likely to announce a new Mac Studio on Monday in conjunction with the to-be- unveiled M2 Ultra chip. The updated model would replace the current model with the M1 Max and M1 Ultra, announced last March. Mac Studio shipping dates hint at an imminent refresh, with June 16 being the earliest shipment date for several configurations on Apple’s US online store.

For the Mac Pro, estimates are even longer. Upon checking, specific base-model configurations of the Mac Pro are expected to ship as late as July 5. Other models with varied graphics card configuration options are scheduled to ship around the same time as the Mac Studio, around June 13 and June 15.

The company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, confirmed that an Apple silicon Mac Pro is still in development at the company’s event last March during which the Mac Studio was initially announced. In addressing potential rumors that the Mac Studio would replace Apple’s high-end desktop computer, Ternus said, “that leaves just one more product to go: Mac Pro, but that’s for another day.” Despite those comments last year, the company has not announced a refreshed Mac Pro, making it the only Mac with an Intel-based processor.

Mac Pro Rumors

Gurman reported in December that Apple had discarded its plans to offer an Apple silicon-based Mac Pro with both M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme chips. The latter configuration is considered too expensive by the company, possibly costing upwards of $10,000 for the base model alone. In its place, Apple will offer the Mac Pro with only the M2 Ultra chip, which is expected to be announced on Monday.

Based on Apple’s current pricing structure, an M2 Extreme version of a Mac Pro would probably cost at least $10,000 — without any other upgrades — making it an extraordinarily niche product that likely isn’t worth the development costs, engineering resources and production bandwidth it would require.

Instead, the Mac Pro is expected to rely on a new-generation M2 Ultra chip (rather than the M1 Ultra) and will retain one of its hallmark features: easy expandability for additional memory, storage and other components.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman

According to Bloomberg, the M2 Ultra chip will contain 24 CPU cores, including 16 high-performance cores, eight effiency cores, and 60 GPU cores, making it Apple’s most powerful chip to date. The chip is being tested with 64, 128, and 192GB of memory. Aside from the announcement of an updated Mac Studio at WWDC on Monday, Apple is also expected to unveil an all-new 15-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip. 

This year’s show will, however, be dominated by the company’s long-rumored mixed reality headset and xrOS operating system. Compared to previous WWDCs, this year’s event will be more focused on hardware, with the headset and new Macs taking precedence over Apple’s annual upgrades to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS. WWDC kicks off on Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time with a pre-recorded video live streamed on Apple’s website and YouTube.