Apple Working on Two New Mac Pro Desktops, One of Which Will Be Reminiscent of Power Mac G4 Cube

Apple is developing two versions of the Mac Pro to succeed the Mac Pro that was first released in December 2019, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

The first updated Mac Pro is a direct successor to the current Mac Pro and it will use the same design. It may also be equipped with Intel processors rather than Apple silicon chips, and it could be one of the sole machines in the Mac lineup to continue to rely on Intel technology. Rumors suggest that most other machines are transitioning to Apple silicon.

The second machine will use Apple silicon chips and it will be less than half the size of the current Mac Pro, putting it somewhere between the existing Mac Pro and the Mac mini. It will feature a mostly aluminum exterior, and Bloomberg suggests that it could "invoke nostalgia" for the Power Mac G4 Cube.

Apple is testing Apple silicon chips with as many as 32 high performance cores for its desktop computers, and 16 to 32-core graphics options are also in the works. For its highest-end machines, though, Apple is developing more expensive 64 and 128-core GPUs, which would be several times faster than the graphics options Apple uses from AMD.

There is no word on when the two new Mac Pro models might come out. Apple is working on transitioning its Mac lineup to Apple silicon chips, a process that is expected to take up to two years to complete. In a prior report, Bloomberg said that the Apple silicon Mac Pro was planned to launch by 2022.