In an unusual move for Apple if you want to order an iMac Pro you will be greeted with the message: “While stocks last”. The company has stopped production of the iMac Pro and is now only selling the iMac Pro that are still in stock – those being exclusively the entry-level configuration with a 3.0GHz 10-Core Intel Xeon processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD and a Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB HBM2 memory. Unfortunately, the price of the remaining 2017 machines is no bargain at £4,999/$4,999.
But is anyone going to notice the absence of the iMac Pro? The pro-targeted iMac was intended as an interim solution when it launched at the end of 2017. Two years later, in December 2019, the modular Mac Pro launched. The Mac Pro lacked the 5K Retina display of the iMac Pro, but it featured superior workstation processors and enhanced graphics at a price that wasn’t a lot higher than the iMac Pro – but in a modular design that suited the market it was destined for. For those for whom the Mac Pro was overkill, the iMac was itself gaining on the iMac Pro, with various build-to-order options that made it a suitable alternative. It got to the point where all the iMac Pro really had going for it was the Space Grey finish.
Well now inevitable has happened: Apple is taking the iMac Pro off the market. Read: Will there be a new iMac Pro?
This coincides some configurations of the 21.5-inch iMac no longer being available – a sign that new Apple Silicon iMacs are not far off. But the 21.5in iMac is designed for a very different market to the iMac Pro – and potential iMac Pro users will be most interested in the future of the 27in iMac, which better suites their needs. Read: iMac vs iMac Pro.
Does Apple’s decision to remove the iMac Pro from sale indicate that Apple will be updating the 27in iMac soon with a model that will meet the demands of the iMac Pro market? Probably not: we anticipate the 27in iMac update coming much later – and when it does it’s likely to feature the M2 chip, or later, rather than the M1X we anticipate for the smaller iMac.
Will the M2 be enough for creative pros? A Bloomberg report from December 2020 indicated that Apple is working on CPUs that boast 16-cores and 32-core GPUs.
Apparently these processors are destined for high-end desktop computers and a new smaller Mac Pro. It is this new G4 Cube-like Mac Pro that we think will be the true successor of the iMac Pro. (Here’s more about the new Mac Pro.)
Those chips aren’t expected until 2022, according to Bloomberg’s sources, so we are likely to have a bit of a wait until we see the successor to the iMac Pro, hopefully it will be worth the wait.
Author: Karen Haslam, Editor
Macworld editor since 2008, Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld almost two decades ago.
Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Her focus is Mac, but she lives and breathes Apple.