Apple M3 Ultra is expected in mid-2024, but it won't come to all Macs

In late October, Apple unveiled its M3 chip series, comprising three variants: the “standard” M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max.

Considering the track record of the predecessors M1 and M2, the imminent arrival of another member, M3 Ultra, seems plausible to further challenge the segment of very high-end computers.

Apple's first 3nm chip designed for desktops will power the company's most powerful and expensive devices with recent rumors pointing to a possible launch in mid-2024, though details are still scarce.

However, these partial rumors don't mention the Mac Pro; they seem to focus quite a bit on Mac Studio.
This suggests that Apple could limit the use of the M3 Ultra to just one product, contrary to speculation that suggested both would be introduced with the new chips by the summer of 2024.

Rumors and suppositions

A new report from TrendForce discusses the situation at TSMC, which has begun securing new 3nm chip orders for several customers, including Apple.

MediaTek, Qualcomm and others are expected to adopt the new one 'N3E' process from the Taiwanese semiconductor company, which offers better yield and a lower cost per wafer than the 'N3B' variant used exclusively by Apple.

TrendForce says the N3E node will be used for mass production of both A18 Pro and M3 Ultrawith unconfirmed rumors of an early launch of the second.
A previous report indicated that the family's fourth SoC would not be revealed until late 2024.
And instead M3 Ultra, with its potential 32 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores, could be launched as early as this summer, but probably only on Mac Studio.

The source didn't mention the Mac Pro, leaving open the possibility that the company is considering not updating the larger version of the workstation.

Towards a more compact future

When the M2 Ultra was announced last year for Mac Studio and Mac Pro, comparisons revealed a price difference of nearly $3,000 for the same configuration.
At the moment, both use the M2 Ultra chip, while Apple also offers the Mac Studio with an M2 Max.

There price difference between these two computers is notable: Mac Pro is sold starting from 8299 euros, while Mac Studio starts from 4799 euros with the Ultra chip.

Mac Studio thus becomes more attractive to purchase, allowing consumers to obtain a powerful and compact machine while saving significantly.

With the previous Intel-based Mac Pro, you could easily add memory and GPU modules to your setup, but with versioning Apple Siliconthis flexibility has been eliminated, limiting your upgrade options.

Despite the uncertainty about the future M3 Ultra chip to which only waiting will be able to answer, we are talking about a machine that still represents Apple's flagship.