Apple M4 Mac Pro 2025: What to Expect

By Julie Clover

Apple last updated the Mac Pro in June 2023, adding the M2 Ultra chip and officially completing the transition from Intel chips. ‌Mac Pro‌ uses the same ‌M2‌ The ultra-chip found in Mac Studio has drawn criticism over its lack of power.

Apple has gone back to the drawing board and is working on an updated version of the ‌Mac Pro‌ it's due out next year. This guide covers everything we know about the Apple ‌Mac Pro‌ progress.

M4 chip

Next ‌Mac Pro‌ will have an M4 family chip as Apple works to upgrade its entire Mac line to the M4 series in 2024 and 2025.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes Apple wants to create a more conventional Apple processor chip refresh cycle, in in which Mac chips may be updated annually, similar to chips designed for the iPhone.

Gourmet says the ‌Mac Pro‌ will be equipped with the latest version of the M4 chip, codenamed Hidra. Hidra is likely equivalent to an “Ultra” chip based on how Apple has differentiated its chips in the past. ‌Mac Pro‌ is intended for professional videographers, photographers, designers and others who require significant processing power, and some professional users are said to have been dissatisfied with the ‌M2‌ Ultra ‌Mac Pro‌.

As a result, Apple plans to release the M4 ‌Mac Pro‌ more powerful.

All M4 chips will be designed with a focus on artificial intelligence, with Apple keen to highlight the chips' AI processing capabilities and how they will integrate into macOS. Apple will add on-device AI features in future operating system updates, so the M4 chips will need more processing power.

Rumors suggest that the M4 chips will feature updated Neural technology. An engine with a large number of cores for solving artificial intelligence problems.

Unified memory

‌Mac Pro‌ can support up to 500 GB of combined memory, which is much more than the current maximum of 192 GB.

Will there be an M3 Mac Pro?

It doesn't look like Apple is going to go after the chip M3 Ultra for ‌Mac Pro‌, the company will instead focus on updating the M4.

Design updates

‌Mac Pro‌ 2019 saw a major design update, with Apple ditching the cylindrical “trash can” look in favor of a more discreet aluminum computer case. There were no design changes at the time of the 2022 model refresh, and so far we haven't heard anything about design changes for the upcoming M4 variant.

However, the launch is still over a year away, so it's possible Apple will make some design updates, at least internally, to support changes to the M4 chip.