The Mac Pro is dead. 20 years after its glitzy launch, what went wrong with Apples ultimate flagship computer?

Date:
Fri, 07 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Description:
The Mac Pro would be 20 today if it hadnt been discontinued. Heres why Apple ditched its most powerful Mac.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Apple unveiled the very first Mac Pro 20 years ago today, dubbing the computer the ideal system for the
most demanding user. It was the last Mac to make the transition to Intel processors and put the final nail in the coffin of its PowerPC predecessor quite a statement at the time.

In fact, the Mac Pro was so powerful that it doubled the performance of the Power Mac G5 that had launched less than a year earlier. Talk about earning that Pro moniker. Many different iterations followed, but the one constant
was the positioning. The Mac Pro was always the Mac you went for if money was no object but power was an imperative. It was, seemingly, a computer for the ages. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

Or not, as it turned out. In March 2026, Apple officially discontinued the
Mac Pro and said it had no plans for any future models. It was an ignominious end to the most powerful Mac Apple has ever made.

The very nature of the Mac Pro had always made it vulnerable. But that vulnerability proved to be fatal when combined with market conditions that even a giant like Apple is struggling to deal with today. When we look back
at why the Mac Pro (just) failed to make it to 20 years old, theres one very obvious culprit. You may like 25 years ago, Apple changed the world of computers forever Apples rumored M-series chip roadmap could bring
frustrating Mac delays Dell's new XPS RTX Spark mini PC could prove a problem for the Mac Studio A dangerously niche product (Image credit: Joseph Greve / Unsplash) Right from the off, the Mac Pro was designed to be used by people
in challenging professions who valued performance above all else. It was made to complement the eye-watering powers of the best Intel chips of the day, which offered far more in the way of output than the PowerPC processors Apple had previously been using.

That meant that the Mac Pro was always a niche product that flaunted its raw power. That was the point of the machine, and although the general public liked to poke fun at its sky-high prices (remember the $400 wheels on the
2019 model?), its intended audience didnt much care. When your work consists of high-grade film productions, artificial intelligence (AI) data crunching
or similarly demanding pursuits, high prices are just the cost of doing business. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

But that niche nature meant the Mac Pro was never going to sell on the scale of the MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro . Apple was always taking a calculated risk, determining that it was worth going after a small but loyal audience
who craved the Mac Pros power and reliability and would continue to do so over the years.

The problem, though, was that Apple often seemed to take these users for granted. The cylindrical model introduced in 2013 nicknamed the trash can
Mac Pro for its tubular shape went years without an update because, Apple later admitted, the company had designed ourselves into a bit of a thermal corner.

Amazingly, the 2013 model wasnt updated until six years later a veritable lifetime in computing terms when the final design iteration of the Mac Pro finally touched down. What to read next Apple price hikes live all the
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The introduction of the Mac Studio also caused a massive problem for the Mac Pro. Its performance was just as good as the Mac Pro, if not better, yet it came in a smaller package that cost far less. The choice for many people was clear.

With the transition to Apple silicon, add-in extras like the Apple
Afterburner Card were no longer feasible, meaning the Mac Pros only real advantage was its inclusion of a few expansion options like PCIe. But when youre paying a minimum of $6,999, those returns make less and less sense when compared with a Mac Studio.

Apple had long walked the fine line between infrequent updates and outright abandonment, but still it kept chugging away at the Mac Pro, even after the Mac Studios arrival. Instead, it was an external force that finally killed
off the Mac Pro and forced a complete rethink from Apple. Buried in the dark (Image credit: Apple) On March 26, 2026, news emerged that Apple had discontinued the Mac Pro. The company explained to 9to5Mac that it also had
no plans to offer future Mac Pro hardware, seemingly sounding the computers death knell for good.

The timing might have seemed strange, and it certainly seemed to come out of the blue. But with the benefit of hindsight, we can gain a pretty good idea
of what happened and why Apple made the move when it did.

Thats because just three months later, Apple announced bombshell price rises that affected nearly every device it sold.

The Mac range was badly hit, with high-end devices like the Mac Studio coming in for particularly stinging increases. That device saw the single highest price jump by far, rocketing up by a painful $1,300 for the M3 Ultra model. The MacBook Pro, meanwhile, rose $300, the second-highest dollar increase of any Apple product.

These price adjustments werent made on a whim. No, they were prompted by the widespread component crisis thats currently ravaging the entire computing industry.

Parts are getting more expensive by the day thanks to the overwhelming demand from AI data centers . Things are so bad that Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke out, calling the situation unsustainable and describing his companys price increases as unavoidable. (Image credit: Far Chinberdiev / Unsplash) When you see how badly pro users were affected by these changes, Apples decision to ditch the Mac Pro starts to make a lot more sense. If the Mac Studio now
costs $1,300 more than it did previously a figure that ballooned by almost 33% what kind of wince-inducing costs would Mac Pro users be faced with had Apple continued to sell the device?

Going with that same 33% jump, we could have been looking at a Mac Pro that started at around $9,299. Thats a roughly 33% step up over the Mac Pros old entry price of $6,999. And were not even talking about any upgrades here no beefed-up CPU or additional storage, not even any ultra-premium wheels. Just the base-level Mac Pro and nothing more.

When you think about it like that, its obvious why the Mac Pro was killed off just shy of its 20th anniversary. If Apple waited for the computers birthday, it would have been forced to escalate its price to frankly outrageous heights alongside all the other affected products.

And in the cut-throat world of business, that would have been a no-go considering the prices were talking about here. The Mac Pro was already selling in vanishingly small numbers. Boost its price by 33% or even 20%
and its sales would have fallen off a cliff. The only thing a move like that would have generated is a torrent of bad press for very little positive return.

So in the end, Apple didnt afford the Mac Pro a sentimental 20th birthday celebration. Given the ongoing memory crisis and its wide-ranging effects on the entire computing industry, there was no room to stand on ceremony. The
Mac Pro was buried in the dark before its price could become even more contentious. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best MacBooks and Macs for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best MacBooks and Macs 1. Best MacBook overall: MacBook Air 13-inch M5 2. Best budget MacBook: MacBook Neo 3. Best Mac: Mac mini (M4) 4. Best MacBook Pro MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 5. Best Mac for professionals Mac Studio M4 Max



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/macs/the-mac-pro-is-dead-20-years-after-it s-glitzy-launch-what-went-wrong-with-apples-ultimate-flagship-computer


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