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The M2 Max and Ultra Mac Studio were launched at WWDC 23 last June, and the M3 era of Apple’s system-on-a-chip began last November. So, with WWDC 24 approaching, it’s time to start looking forward to the next Mac Studio.
Rumors will start to multiply as we approach June 2024, and anything reported now can (and probably will) change before the new Mac Studio is released. We will keep track of what is said in this article.
M3 Mac Studio: release date
We’ve had two generations of Mac Studio. The first generation (M1 Max and Ultra) was released in March 2022. The second generation (M2 Max and Ultra) was revealed at WWDC 23 in June. Apple will likely continue with a March or June schedule for the next Mac Studio.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said in the paid version of his Power On newsletter that the next Mac Studio could launch in the second half of 2024, which likely means a release at WWDC. ICsmart reports that the new Mac Studio could also arrive in the middle of this year. Since Apple doesn’t typically hold standalone events during the summer months, WWDC is a safe bet.
The M3 Max and Ultra Mac Studio could be released by June 2024.
Roman Loyola/IDG
M3 Mac Studio: Price
There is no report on the price of the M3 Mac Studio. Here are the standard configuration prices for the current M2 Mac Studio lineup, for reference.
- $1,999/£2,099: M2 Max with 12-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 32GB unified memory, 512GB SSD
- $3,999/£4,199: M2 Ultra with 24-core CPU, 60-core GPU, 32-core neural engine, 64 GB unified memory, 1 TB SSD
While the price of the Mac Studio has already increased outside the US (it was originally £1,999 in the UK), prices did not change in the US when Apple switched chips M1 to M2 chips, and prices could stay the same with an M3 upgrade. But when Apple launched the M3 Pro and Max MacBook Pro, the price of the standard-configuration M3 Max model increased by $100, so there’s a good chance that Mac Studio prices will increase.
M3 Mac Studio: Design
No reporting on design changes to Mac Studio has been made. The current design works well and is in its third year, so Apple probably won’t change it. The only possible exception is a new space black color option to match the MacBook Pro.
M3 Mac Studio: Specs and Features
The main (and probably only) change that will happen with the next Mac Studio concerns its SoC. The Mac Studio should continue to have Max and Ultra versions of its M-series chips, so the new chips we’ll see are the M3 Max and M3 Ultra.
The current M3 Max MacBook Pro is available with a 14-core CPU/30-core GPU or a 16-core CPU/38-core GPU, so we may see these chips in the M3 Max Mac Studio.
Ports on Mac Studio will likely remain unchanged.
Roman Loyola/IDG
Apple’s Ultra chips doubled the Max’s CPU and GPU cores. In January 2024, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in the paid version of his Power On newsletter that this is expected to continue, with the M3 Ultra featuring up to 32 CPU cores and 40 GPU cores. Also in January, a report from The Elect indicated that the M3 Ultra would be manufactured using an improved 3nm process.
Other Mac Studio features should remain the same. This means no changes to ports, connectivity, speakers, SSD sizes, or display support.
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