1,208 days later: Apple is finally designing a new Mac Pro

While these days Apple has mostly shifted its focus towards the iPhone and the Macbook, one could easily forget the Cupertino heavyweight got its beginning with the launch of the now-legendary Macintosh computer. But desktop development has somewhat taken a backseat in Apple these days – that is until now.

In a private briefing with select tech journalists in its Cupertino headquarters, Apple has finally announced plans to update its desktop lineup with a new iMac, Mac Pro and a standalone Pro display – a product the company has previously refrained from introducing.

“We’re in the process of completely rethinking the Mac Pro,” said senior VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller. As Mashable remarks, the Big A still had no sketches or prototypes to show off, but it did share its desktop product plans for the months to come.

Taking into account the last update came 1,208 days ago in December 2013, the Mac Pro refresh has been long overdue – and Apple seems well aware of this.

Speaking about the old Mac Pro, Senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi called the setup “vintage.” He also addressed the inconvenient truth that the design struggled to win over the hearts of Pro consumers:

The Mac Pro, the current vintage that we introduced, we wanted to do something bold and different. In retrospect, it didn’t well suit some of the people we wanted to reach.

While Apple purposefully avoided giving out too much detail about the upcoming desktop lineup overhaul, the execs promised the new device will appeal to a wider audience – though the company was adamant it won’t shy away from eye-popping designs. One thing Schiller said you should not expect though is a touchscreen (like the one on Microsoft’s Surface Studio).

Mashable also said Apple has something in store for those interested to keep their older Mac Pro, giving them the option for spec bump:

The entry-level Mac Pro, which starts at $2,999, will now come with a six-core Xeon processor, instead of four and dual Fire Pro D500 GPUs (instead of D300). The high-end, $3,999, will offer 8 cores and jump from dual D500 graphics cards to a pair of D700 GPUs.

As far as the upcoming updates go, the scheduled timeline remains blurry, but Schiller said iMac users will likely get an update later this year, with the Mac Pro slated to arrive sometime in 2018.