Apple currently sells the M2 Ultra versions of the Mac Studio and Mac Pro. With the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max launched in October 2023, it is strange that the company has yet to launch the M3 Ultra. What is even stranger is that a new report states that the M4 Ultra will power Apple’s workstation hardware, with one of the models launching in the middle of 2025. Does that mean that the M3 Ultra models will not see an announcement? Read on ahead to find out.
The M3 Ultra launch has conflicting reports, but workstation-based SoC may arrive before the end of 2024
For the M4 lineup of chipsets, we reported that Apple will first introduce three versions, comprising of the base SoC, followed by the M4 Pro and M4 Max. The M4 Ultra is said to feature the codename ‘Hidra,’ with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stating in his ‘Power On’ newsletter that the new SoC will power the Mac Studio and Mac Pro. Gurman has not commented on whether Apple plans to introduce a design change to its powerful machines but believes that the Mac Studio with a ‘high-end M4 chip’ will launch around the middle of 2025.
This Mac Studio may arrive in the M4 Max and M4 Ultra flavors, though this specific information was not mentioned. Additionally, Gurman says that the larger workstation, the Mac Pro, is slated to launch in the second half of 2025, touting the M4 Ultra. While no estimated launch timeline for the M3 Ultra was stated in the newsletter, Gurman’s earlier prediction mentioned that the SoC could be announced by the end of 2024. However, a separate report from TrendForce believes that the powerful Apple Silicon will launch in mid-2024, so it remains to be seen which one is true.
Earlier specifications of the M3 Ultra hinted at an 80-core GPU, making it twice as much as the GPU cores in the top-end version of the M3 Max. This can mean that the M4 Ultra will have an even higher CPU and GPU core count, as it should, considering that it will support a slew of AI-related functions and features, which require a ton of processing power. We certainly hope that Apple does not break the cycle of launching its ‘Ultra’ variant of chipsets, so we will keep our fingers crossed for the arrival of the M3 Ultra, with the M4 Ultra possibly appearing in 2025.
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