The iMac Pro was one of the most famous products of recent times. Its version with Intel processors was discontinued in March of last year, from the beginning of 2022 rumors and theories began to appear that pointed to the transformation of the unit into a more powerful one from the Apple catalog, this time with integrated from the house. The possibility has even been raised that this is the first desktop Pro to make that leap, as the Mac Pro with Apple Silicon looks like it’ll be a while yet.

Many signs pointed to an early March presentation as the moment of the return of the iMac Pro, but eventually it was replaced by the compact Mac Studio, a system that could also have been called the Mac Mini Pro, and the Studio Display screen, which with its 27 inches is the closest proposal to the now-defunct iMac and iMac Pro large format. The question then was whether the project would continue.

Some rumors mentioned it again in the face of the last WWDC 2022, but with much less force than earlier this year. And while the introduction of the second generation of Apple Silicon would be a great moment for the debut of the new desktop Pro, in the end, there was no iMac Pro, only the new MacBook Air and Pro.

At this point, of course, questions began to arise about Apple’s desktop options, are we really going to see a new M2-based iMac Pro? And answer may very directly depend on the life cycle planned by Cupertino for this generation. Two years, as in the jump between M1 and M2, or one year, as other manufacturers, and so far even Apple itself with its Apple A Bionic.

The last thing we can read about in Wccfts is that Apple is indeed working on a 24-inch iMac Pro, as well as a larger modelbut that would also skip this generation, debut directly with the Apple M3 chipa prediction that would be signed by Marc Gurman, who states the following:

“I also think Apple is working on an iMac with a bigger screen aimed at the professional market. I imagine it will use a variant of the M3 chip, probably the M3 Pro and M3 Max. This would match the chips in the MacBook Pro. I don’t think combining a Mac Studio or Mac mini with an Apple Studio display will be enough for many professional users who want more screen real estate.”

Of course, Gurman’s approach points to 2023 at the earliest, although when he talks about the M3 Pro and M3 Max, he points to the change he mentioned earlier regarding the life cycle of the M2 and potentially its successors. Only then, if the Pro, Max and Ultra versions of the M2 see the light between the end of this year and the beginning of 2023, it makes sense to wait for the arrival of the M3 in the middle of next year, and its Pro, Max and Ultra at that time as well. Conversely, and if Gurman succeeds in his iMac Pro plans, it seems more likely that we’ll have to wait until at least 2024which seems a rather excessive period to me.