The first Geekbench 6 benchmark result for the new Mac Pro surfaced today, providing a closer look at the M2 Ultra chip's CPU performance in the desktop tower.
The result lists a single-core score of 2,794 and a multi-core score of 21,453, compared to 1,378 and 10,390 for the highest-end Intel-based Mac Pro with a 28-core Xeon W processor, a configuration that started at $12,999. This means the new Mac Pro is over twice as fast as the fastest Intel-based model, and given that all configurations include the M2 Ultra chip, this performance can be had for a much lower $6,999.
Mac14,8 = 2023 Mac Pro
Unsurprisingly, these scores are virtually identical to those that surfaced for the Mac Studio with the M2 Ultra chip a few days ago. The new Mac Pro is aimed at customers who need PCI Express expansion, but anyone else should consider the Mac Studio for their desktop computer needs, as it can be configured with the M2 Ultra chip for $3,999.
The new Mac Pro has the same overall design as the 2019 model, but it no longer supports graphics cards and does not have user-upgradeable RAM due to Apple silicon's unified memory. The computer launched today following pre-orders last week.
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by Juli Clover
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products.
Here's what's supposedly coming:
An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features.
Macworld claims to have access to an internal version of iOS 26 that references several upcoming...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:19 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's next-generation Studio Display is expected to arrive early next year, and a new report allegedly provides a couple more details on the external monitor's capabilities.
According to internal Apple code seen by Macworld, the new external display will feature a variable refresh rate capable of up to 120Hz – aka ProMotion – as well as support for HDR content. The current Studio...
And with that, any reason to get this over the Mac Studio is now gone. There is now ZERO reason at all to buy a giant Mac Pro over the smaller Studio
"But the Mac Pro can be rack mountable!"
So can the Mac Studio, even moreso since it's considerably smaller so you can mount a lot more
"But I need the Mac Pro for the PCIE to put my BlackMagic cards in!"
Do you? Do you really? Because BlackMagic PCIE is slowly on it's way out as there's external rack mounted boxes that are performing better than the PCIE cards did.
Even Neil Parfitt, the audio studio pro who famously unboxed a fully specced Rack Mount Mac Pro, is saying the M2 Ultra Mac Pro is kinda redundant
So, compared to the old Mac Pro (on this one test), you're getting a much needed CPU upgrade.
The problem with getting excited about this is here is GB's averages for the i9-13900KS:
I don't even know what Xeon to compare to as trying to navigate those was a bit of a mess, but the 13900KS with 4 less cores and less threads is offering a SIGNIFICANT improvement in CPU performance.
Most of my experience with Mac Pro users have been people who rely on CPU performance above all. Data sciences running simulations, for example. The limitation of 192GB of RAM over the previous Mac Pro's 1.5TB combined with a better, but still not top of the line CPU makes me think the Mac Pro wasn't supposed to be this way. For all intents and purposes, it's a Mac Studio with internal PCIe. The amount of people who want a Studio with some external cards seems like an extremely small portion of the people who were buying Mac Pros. I feel like most customers at this point would either just invest into the Mac Studio as a much more compact and space saving workstation, or they would've moved onto custom Linux and Windows builds with these better Intel CPUs (provided they aren't using macOS exclusive software).
I feel like with TB4 that many of these PCIe cards outside of graphics cards can reach their full potential as well.
If you're someone who ends up buying a Mac Pro for a reason other than "I need macOS/macOS software", I'd be really curious as to why the Pro over the Studio or a more modular Intel/AMD PC.
