Apple Puts A Bullet In iMac Pro After Failing To Meaningfully Upgrade It Over The Years
In August of last year, Apple gave the iMac a much-needed Comet Lake-H and Radeon Pro Navi refresh, which boosted the sleek all-in-one's performance. Concurrently, Apple sold the iMac Pro, which touted slightly better upgrades for more intensive computing tasks, but it seems people did not necessarily need all that horsepower. Putting the final nail in the coffin, Apple has finally updated the iMac Pro webpage with a “While Supplies Last” notice and is only allowing the sale of the machine's base configuration.
Comparing the updated iMac and iMac Pro side by side, it is not hard to see why anyone would prefer the iMac over the Pro variant. When configuring an iMac, you can select a 10-core 10th generation Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB of 2666Mhz RAM, Radeon Pro 5700XT, and 1TB SSD for $4,099.00. On the flip side, with an iMac Pro, you can get a 10-core Intel Xeon W processor, 32GB of 2666Mhz RAM, Radeon Pro Vega 56, and a 1TB SSD for $900 more at $4999.00. Quite frankly, the value proposition is not great with the iMac Pro when you can save money with a similarly configured iMac.
Subsequently, MacRumors has since confirmed with Apple that “when supplies run out, the iMac Pro will no longer be available whatsoever.” Apple claims that the 27-inch iMac is the preferred choice by Apple's customers everywhere, and if they need more horsepower, they can step up to the Mac Pro. Although perhaps this is not the complete end of the iMac Pro, as we have heard rumors that the next generation of Apple Silicon will be made for the iMac and MacBook Pro devices as well. Specifically, it is speculated that there could be a 32-core Apple Silicon option to replace the Intel Xeon W with the current iMac Pro.
Alternatively, if you take Apple's commentary absolutely, this could be the final bell toll for the iMac Pro in a bid to condense the iMac lineup down. This would make the customer experience more simplified as well as reduce other issues such as manufacturing overhead. Whatever ends up happening, it will be interesting to watch, whether or not the iMac Pro rises from the ashes someday, so stay tuned to HotHardware for updates.
