If you were hoping to buy an iMac Pro for serious work, you had better act quickly. 9to5Mac reports (and Apple confirmed to Engadget) that Apple is slowing sales of its multifunctional workstation. You can still buy one, but it is limited to the basic 10-core Xeon configuration and is only available “while supplies last”. You will also have to be patient, as orders are taking three to four weeks as we write this.
Apple told Engadget that most professional customers would likely be satisfied with the sophisticated iMac 2020, which made SSDs standard and includes newer graphics, up to 128 GB of RAM and the option of a nano-textured screen finish to reduce the shine. Customers who need more can always buy a Mac Pro tower, the company added.
It is not clear whether or when there will be a replacement, but we would not count on that. The iMac Pro was launched in late 2017 as an effective interim system, while high-end customers have been waiting for a redesigned Mac Pro. Although Apple increased the basic specifications for an eight-core CPU to 10, it never updated the hardware beyond that – while the slowness of Intel’s Xeon update schedule played a role, it was also evident that Apple invested much of its weight on the Mac Pro. This iMac was especially useful for professional users who needed a relatively easy to transport machine for tasks such as editing photos and videos on set.
As it stands, the iMac Pro faced an uncertain future. Apple’s transition to internal silicon was forced to rethink the company’s pro-system strategy. Rumors of future iMacs circulate with up to 16 high-speed cores, not to mention a mini Mac Pro desktop. If that were true, there wouldn’t be much point in a new iMac Pro when other systems could do the job at least as well. Do not regret the iMac Pro very much, as its successors may be more than capable of filling the gap.