Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips Could Launch This Week

An updated version of the Mac Studio could launch as soon as this week, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The new machine is expected to be equipped with the M4 Max chip that we first saw in the 2024 MacBook Pro models, but Apple apparently does not have an M4 Ultra chip ready to go.

M4 Mac Studio Feature
Instead, there could be a version of the ‌Mac Studio‌ that uses an M3 Ultra chip. Apple didn't release an M3 Ultra chip alongside the M3 chip lineup, so it would be a new chip even though it's not part of the current M4 family. The current ‌Mac Studio‌ has an M2 Ultra chip, as does the Mac Pro.

Apple's "Ultra" chips have historically been two of the "Max" chips linked together, but the M3 Max does not have the UltraFusion interconnect feature that allows the Max chips to be doubled up. The M3 Ultra would likely be a standalone chip that is a departure from the prior Ultra chips that Apple has come out with.

As the M3 Ultra is not likely to be a doubled up M3 Max chip, it's not entirely clear what we can expect in terms of performance, but Apple has more flexibility to tweak processor cores and add additional GPU power. Gurman suggests that Apple might opt to go with an M3 Ultra in the ‌Mac Studio‌ in order to distinguish it from a ‌Mac Pro‌ with a future M4 Ultra chip.

Gurman has faced some difficulty predicting the ‌Mac Studio‌'s launch timeline, perhaps due to Apple's shifting plans. Last year, he said the ‌Mac Studio‌ would come out in mid-2025 around WWDC. He later said that the timing would place it after the MacBook Air, a machine that he suggested would launch before the iPhone 16e and the new iPad Air.

Earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased new product launches with a "There's something in the air" graphic on social media, and Apple has so far updated the ‌iPad Air‌ and the low-cost iPad. The ‌MacBook Air‌ is also rumored to be getting a refresh this week, and now we may also get the ‌Mac Studio‌ even though it doesn't have "Air" in the name.

Related Roundup: Mac Studio
Buyer's Guide: Mac Studio (Buy Now)
Related Forum: Mac Studio

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
iphone 17 pro majin bu sky blue

iPhone 17 Pro Allegedly Coming in Sky Blue Color Used for MacBook Air

Tuesday April 22, 2025 4:08 am PDT by
Apple will unveil the iPhone 17 Pro in a new Sky Blue color, the same color that debuted on the latest M4 MacBook Air models Apple released in March. That's according to the leaker Majin Bu. Concept mockup from Majin Bu Writing on his website, Bu claims that "sources close to the supply chain confirm that several iPhone 17 Pro prototypes have been made in various colors, with Sky Blue...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...

Top Rated Comments

AusMness Avatar
7 weeks ago
Gurman detected
Content rejected
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
7 weeks ago
“could”

- Mark Gurman
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Veinticinco Avatar
7 weeks ago
Apple release an M4 Max /M3 Ultra Mac Studio? ?

Well done. Peak product line fragmentation achieved.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
midkay Avatar
7 weeks ago
M3 Ultra makes no sense. The M3 family was obsoleted with the launch of the M4, many months ago. Zero reason to release an M3 Ultra at this point.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pksv Avatar
7 weeks ago

Gurman detected
Content rejected

“could”
- Mark Gurman

Equally, this tells you everything that you need to know about this guy.

Gurman's strategy is guessing as much as possible so some random predictions could be correct.
People browsing macRUMORS website complaining about reading rumors ???
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WilliApple Avatar
7 weeks ago
This seems very sketchy...
M4 Max with M3 Ultra?
I thought M3 Max didn't have ultra fusion or whatever its called, but M4 Max does...

Also, isn't all an Ultra chip just 2 Max chips combined together? Should be pretty easy to put 2 M4 Maxes together.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)