Take a trip back four years to June 7, 2022, when Apple announced the M2 chip at WWDC 2022. It was the base model of the M2, but reports leading up to its announcement speculated that Apple’s M2 chip plans included Max and Ultra versions, as well as a higher-end chip dubbed “Extreme.” It was thought that the M2 Extreme would find its way into the Mac Pro.
However, later in December 2022, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple decided to scrap the M2 Extreme “because of both the complexity and cost of producing a processor that is essentially four M2 Max chips fused together.” Apple released the M2 Ultra the following year at WWDC 2023, and we never saw an M2 Extreme.
Fast-forward to today, where Gurman reports that Apple not only had an M2 Extreme but also an M3 Extreme, and the plans were to use those chips in the Mac Pro. But, he explains, Apple dropped the chips “due to cost and demand concerns.” You know the end of this story: Apple eventually discontinued the Mac Pro this past March.
It’s still interesting to think about what could’ve been. As you know, there’s a worldwide RAM shortage that’s only going to get worse before it gets better. Apple not only raised its Mac prices, but also memory options are limited, especially at the high-end. For example, the Mac Studio–the Mac that took the place of the Mac Pro as Apple’s highest-end model–is available only in a 96GB RAM configuration, after Apple discontinued the 256GB option due to the supply crunch. And even the 96GB is severely constrained and won’t ship for three months.
The current RAM shortage would’ve surely impacted Apple’s supply of an M3 Extreme Mac Pro. Not only would it have been extremely expensive, but between the production issues and RAM crunch, an Extreme Mac Pro would’ve ended up being a machine that everyone wanted, but no one could buy. But it’s nice to dream.
