Apple Likely to Announce Final Cut Pro Update This Week With These New Features

In its announcement video for the new Mac mini last month, Apple teased an "upcoming" version of Final Cut Pro for the Mac. Apple will likely announce the update during the annual Final Cut Pro Creative Summit, which begins this Wednesday. The conference is held in association with Apple, and attendees will be visiting Apple Park on the first day.

General Final Cut Pro Feature
Apple already teased four new features coming to Final Cut Pro for the Mac later this year:

  • In its visionOS 2 press release in June, Apple said an update to Final Cut Pro for the Mac will add the ability to edit spatial videos recorded with devices like iPhone 15 Pro models, any iPhone 16 model, or the Canon EOS R7 mirrorless camera with a spatial video lens that recently became available for pre-order. Spatial videos have 3D depth and can be viewed on Apple's Vision Pro headset.
  • In the Mac mini announcement video, Apple said the Final Cut Pro update will enable users to instantly apply AI-generated effects to videos. In the visionOS 2 press release from June, Apple similarly mentioned the upcoming ability to add "immersive titles and effects" to videos. It seems plausible that the new AI features in Final Cut Pro could have Apple Intelligence branding, but this is not certain.
  • In the Mac mini video, Apple also previewed automatic AI-generated captions for videos in Final Cut Pro, eliminating the need to use caption plugins or other software. This feature has been long awaited amid the rise of short-form videos with captions across TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.
  • An image of Final Cut Pro in the Mac mini video showed an unreleased "Magnetic Mask" feature. While no details are known about this feature, it will likely allow users to isolate moving objects in the foreground to remove them, add text behind them, apply color grading, or so on. This feature will likely be similar to MotionVFX's mRotoAI plugin for Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve's Magic Mask feature.

At least some of these features will likely extend to an updated version of the Final Cut Pro app for iPad. There could also be updates to the Final Cut Pro companion apps Compressor and Motion for the Mac, and to the Final Cut Camera app for the iPhone.

final cut pro captionsFinal Cut Pro's upcoming auto-caption feature

Final Cut Pro received its most recent feature update to version 10.8 in June. New features included an Enhance Light and Color effect, a Smooth Slo-Mo option for slow-motion visuals, advanced search and filtering in the timeline index, and more. It is unclear if the next update to Final Cut Pro will be considered version 10.9, or if Apple will finally introduce Final Cut Pro 11, which would likely be a major new version with several additional features. In addition to auto-generated captions, many Final Cut Pro users have hoped for features such as text-based editing and the ability to open video libraries stored in iCloud.

In the U.S., Final Cut Pro costs $299.99 on the Mac, while the iPad version is a subscription-based app priced at $4.99 per month or $49 per year.

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Top Rated Comments

kalsta Avatar
14 weeks ago

As a result, Adobe gained a lot of profits and become monopoly as nobody cant even come close and being late with subscriptions. Even several softwares are heading toward to subscriptions based even if there are many complains such as Capture One Pro because that's the way.

Hate it or not, that's how it works and at least Apple is doing poorly with updates and features.
Nope, your assessment of history is very skewed. Adobe became something of a monopoly through their habit of buying up the competition and either absorbing or killing off their products. Freehand. PageMaker. Fireworks. I mean, they had decent software too of course—InDesign beat out Quark because it was better and much cheaper (in the beginning). But it certainly wasn't the move to subscription-only which gave them their industry dominance—it was the opposite. It was their industry dominance which gave them the balls to hold users to ransom.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aidler Avatar
14 weeks ago
The most important change for Final Cut would be that Apple finally unifies its licensing model and lets subscribers of the iPad version also use the Mac version.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DestructoTim Avatar
14 weeks ago

I really think FCPX and other software should have a subscription system.


No just no. You think people are leaving Final Cut now? Final Cut will become completely irrelevant and abandoned if they move to a subscription model. Adobe was locked in early as a standard. People don’t even like Adobe but they are forced to use it because it is the standard their employer or partners use. Even so people are leaving Adobe, the standard. Davinci is growing and it isn’t a subscription. So that gives you an idea of what direction the market is actually headed. People are fed up with every product trying to be a subscription and are actively avoiding subs.
Apple just tends to lose focus on certain products at times, but then comes back later and goes crazy with new features and updates. Perhaps a new version number could require a one time updated license fee, or perhaps not. But a subscription for the full Final Cut desktop app is self defeating. Everyone will jump to Davinci or just head over to Adobe where they will be back on the standard and their work will be more flexible to fit projects and collaborators.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kalsta Avatar
14 weeks ago

I really think FCPX and other software should have a subscription system in order to keep updating software more frequently, add more features, and satisfy professional editors if they cant do that.
Oh no, please, no.


I would pay subscription... as long as Apple can constantly updates and improve their professional software like Adobe and other software companies. Besides, One time pay software is already failed after Adobe proven with subscription models and many professional editors already complained and sent an open letter to Apple about lack of constant updates and features.
Where on earth were you when Adobe switched to subscription only? There was a massive public outcry (and some private crying too I'm sure) about that decision.

And if you think Adobe's refusal to reverse its decision proves that the one-time payment model failed, let me ask you this: failed for who? Obviously, it hasn't failed for Adobe and their profits, or they would have backed down. But has it delivered a faster rate of updates and new features? No it hasn't. Yeah, AI has been a big one recently, but in my industry (graphic design) all their apps were already pretty mature by CS6. That's why Adobe needed to force everyone to pay by the month, so we couldn't keep doing what many of us did—wait out a major release cycle when the new features weren't compelling enough.

TLDR: The losers of forced subscription models are always the customers. If it were not so, they would offer us both models and let us choose. IMO, the best model is pay once, and get 12 months of free updates. After that, you can choose when to jump in again for the latest updates and another 12 months. That model actually gives software companies an incentive to improve their software. Subscription only does not.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayryco Avatar
14 weeks ago
After reading some of these posts, I have a controversial opinion, but since I have a few minutes, let me state it quickly.

I think Final Cut is in a good place - and sure, it could be better, but that's mostly amongst mid to high-level professionals, and THANKFULLY, there are really good alternatives for that group of people, and guess what, those people don't use FCPX. These days, Apple really isn't even trying to secure high-level professionals, which should be obvious at this point in time with how the market has changed and evolved with social media and the rise of algorithms.

FCPX is and has been super popular amongst YouTubers, hobbyists, videographers, social media 'influencers' and even professional solo filmmakers for well over a decade now. It launched to great dismay in 2011, but anyone who thinks FCP7 is still better than FCPX since at least the last 5-6+ years is stuck in a different decade and perhaps lacks the ability to adapt to modern times.
FCPX at its core is an amazing cutting program through and through, and while it surely lacks some advanced effects and transitions and obviously lacks a clean way to work with groups of people - if that's your problem, then why are you using Final Cut? It offers SPEED and STABILITY like no other and has consistently offered that combination since the start, even back when we were stuck on Intel and AMD, which is when it truly outpaced the competition by miles. Did we forget?
It has only been since Blackmagic entered the picture with Resolve and offered a competitive pricing model that people started to become disillusioned and wanting an arm and a leg. Forgetting that Apple offered the best bang for buck years and years before and are probably the only reason Blackmagic saw the potential to make it happen, arguably, if it wasn't for FCPX, then we wouldn't be sitting here talking about it all.

I bought FCPX back in late 2013, and at this point in time, its value for money has been absolutely incredible. It has always been there, and I still occasionally open it up when I want to cut something quickly and fast, and I really love it. Its interface is somehow still really good and shockingly was always ahead of its time in terms of ease of use.
People who hate and complain about it clearly lack intuitive knowledge; if you don't like it, then use one of the many other options like wtf? And if you complain because of your 'love' for it then that's kinda weird tbh.

My opinion is based on experience having worked professionally for 12, going on 13 years in the film industry. I have thoroughly used and mastered all the major NLEs, working between them on dozens and dozens of projects to date. My current main editor is, in fact, Resolve, but I also still use Premiere Pro and AE as they are still the best for high-end projects, even though their stability always leaves something to be desired.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bgillander Avatar
14 weeks ago

I really think FCPX and other software should have a subscription system
Thanks, but no thanks. I don't use FCPX enough to justify a monthly fee, but I was able to justify that $300 one time payment 13 years ago. Even if they only charged the same $4.99 a month that they do for the iPad version (which is highly likely much lower than they would charge for a desktop version), I would have paid over $800 for FCPX over that time.

FCPX and Logic are two of the best values available in software, and part of what justifies the extra cost of my Mac hardware for me. I would prefer to not change that equation for some promise of "possibly more updates" when they are already updating the software fairly regularly. I'm actually tired of functional software that seems to keep getting changed just so the companies can say they made a change to try to justify an upgrade.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)