Ahead of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference starting on June 5th, 2023, there have been reports that Apple has been testing two new Mac desktop computers with M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips.

What We Know So Far

Just hours after, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman tweeted, referring to what he expects Apple to announce during the WWDC 2023 keynote address on June 5th 2023…

“I’m expecting three major focus areas next week: 1) several new Macs, 2) the mixed-reality headset, 3) the new OSs. With all of the new hardware and software, I expect the keynote to be one of Apple’s longest ever and easily exceed two hours.”

Mark Gurman tweeted again, this time with some more detail…

“NEW: Apple is testing two new Mac desktops, dubbed Mac 14,13 and Mac 14,14, with M2 Ultra and M2 Max chips. This comes ahead of WWDC where Macs will be featured and a plan to start accepting Mac Studio trade-ins on Monday. Full story coming soon.”

According to reliable Apple analyst Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple testing two, as yet unannounced Mac desktop computers so close to Apple’s WWDC suggests that these two computers are some of the “several new Macs” that Mark referred to in his earlier tweet, although he stopped short of confirming this in his tweets.

New Apple Computers With M2 Max And M2 Ultra Chips

The two new desktop Macs carry Apple’s internal labels of Mac 14,3 and Mac 14,14, and because they are built around M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips, these will be high-end ‘pro’ computers.

It would appear that the M2 Max model uses exactly the same chip that Apple is using in the 16-inch MacBook Pro released back in January 2023, with a 12-core CPU, a 30-core GPU, and support for up to 96GB of unified memory.

However, the M2 Ultra chip is new, and this report is the first evidence of Apple building a computer around the M2 Ultra. The M2 Ultra, used in these tests, is reported to have a 24-core CPU, a 60-core GPU, and up to 192GB of unified memory. Essentially, double the M2 Max, just as the existing M1 Ultra is equivalent to two M2 Max chips strapped together. Previous reports have suggested the M2 Ultra will come in a number of formats with 64GB, 128GB, and 192GB of unified memory and up to a 76-core GPU.

It doesn't look as if either of these two unreleased Apple computers is the long-expected Apple Silicon Mac Pro, as we understand that carries the label Mac 14,8 internally. Instead, it is being suggested that these two Apple computers are new Apple Studio models.

If true, this contradicts what Mark Gurman said back in April 2023, when he suggested that Apple would not release a version of the Mac Studio with an M2 Ultra chip, saving the most powerful Apple silicon chip for the unreleased Apple silicon Mac Pro. However, Apple may choose to keep the top-of-the-range 76-core GPU version of the M2 Ultra for the Apple silicon Mac Pro so it will continue to have the most powerful Mac computer in the range.

Uncertainty About The Apple Silicon Mac Pro

This change of plan by Apple suggests that they are still unsure of what to do with the Mac Pro model moving forward, and so Apple has decided to put the new top-of-the-range M2 Ultra chip in the Mac Studio.

If this does happen, then this is excellent news for the pro-audio community as the Mac Studio is a much more cost-effective model than the Mac Pro, enabling us to buy an Apple desktop computer with an M2 Ultra chip for significantly less than a similarly equipped Mac Pro.

When Is Apple’s WWDC 2023 Keynote Address?

We have not got long to wait, as Apple’s WWDC keynote address is on Monday, 5th June, at 10 am PT, 1 pm ET and 6 pm UK time. But get the popcorn ready, as it looks like it will be a long one.