Apple discontinues the iMac Pro

iMac Pro in gray

Apple is saying goodbye to its flagship iMac Pro all-in-one desktop PC.

The manufacturer added a “while supplies last” label to its online listing for the iMac Pro late last week and stopped offering options to customize and upgrade it. Apple-focused news outlet MacRumors confirmed Apple was cutting the machine from its iMac lineup.

Apple introduced the iMac Pro in December 2017, shipping it in a characteristic “space gray” color. Targeting power users, including video editors and designers, the iMac Pro included a 27in, 5K-resolution display and came with options for higher-end Xeon processors with up to 18 cores. It shipped with at least 32GB of RAM and was only available with SSD storage.

The iMac Pro also featured higher-end Pro Vega graphics cards and Apple's T2 processor, which added more device security. It also had an additional Thunderbolt 3 port compared to the regular iMac.

Apple added more top-end options to the iMac in a March 2019 upgrade, offering newer Intel processors and updating the graphics card support. Buyers could still get lower-powered models with smaller displays, but it also brought the base iMac’s top-end specs closer to the iMac Pro.

Apple tried to maintain a gap between the iMac and iMac Pro by adding more maximum RAM and higher-end graphics options to the latter.

Last August, Apple upgraded the 27in iMac with support for 10th-generation Intel processors, double the top-end RAM option to 128GB, and quadruple its maximum SSD storage to 8TB. Apple also boosted the iMac camera from 720p to 1080p and added the T2 chip. At the same time, Apple announced the bare-minimum upgrade to the iMac Pro, giving it a 10th-gen Intel CPU.

The shakeup comes as the company gradually transitions to its in-house Apple Silicon designs. In November, the company launched the M1, an ARM-based processor design using a 5-nanometer process technology. The company released its eight-core chip into the Macbook Air, 13in MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini products.

Customers thinking of buying an iMac might want to wait. Talking to Apple insiders in December, Bloomberg predicted that Apple's recently introduced custom ARM-based processors would make it into desktop products, including the iMac, later this year.

Danny Bradbury

Danny Bradbury has been a print journalist specialising in technology since 1989 and a freelance writer since 1994. He has written for national publications on both sides of the Atlantic and has won awards for his investigative cybersecurity journalism work and his arts and culture writing. 

Danny writes about many different technology issues for audiences ranging from consumers through to software developers and CIOs. He also ghostwrites articles for many C-suite business executives in the technology sector and has worked as a presenter for multiple webinars and podcasts.