With the debut of the Mac mini with M2 Pro at $1,299, Apple effectively discontinued the aging Intel-based Mac mini from 2018, which sold for a suggested retail price of $1,099. Furthermore, the only Intel-based Mac that Apple sells right now is the Mac Pro, unsurprisingly.
So what does this mean for the future of the Mac Pro? We can expect Apple to introduce the upcoming Mac Pro as the final step in the transition to Apple Silicon as early as March. Otherwise, we might see it in WWDC in June since that’s the usual timeframe for Mac Pro updates to come out.
Now, that doesn’t mean that the Mac Pro with Apple Silicon would replace the Intel-based counterpart entirely. As you probably know, one of the biggest benefits of using an Intel Mac is to run Windows natively via Boot Camp. On top of that, several apps and/or plugins have yet to be updated for Apple Silicon. Since the transition to Apple Silicon has been an ambitious one, what Apple could do is continue selling that Intel version of the Mac Pro for a few more months, probably at a lower (if not the same) price. That way, users could stick with their current workflows that depend on those Intel technologies until they’re ready to make the move.
Remember when Apple transitioned their Macs from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X? Back in 2001 when OS X debuted, Apple offered a dual-boot solution so that the Macs that they shipped would support both OS 9 and OS X. Starting in 2003, all new Macs that Apple introduced would drop support for booting into OS 9 and would boot only into OS X. When Apple introduced the Power Mac G5 in June, Apple re-released a previous-generation Power Mac G4 model at a much lower price for users who relied on using Mac OS 9.
This solution could also be applied to both the Intel and the Apple Silicon Mac Pro. Offering both would satisfy the users who want forward-thinking technologies and those who are not ready for the transition. What do you guys think about this solution? Let us know in the comments below.
