Apple may unveil a long-awaited update to the Mac Pro this spring, according to information reportedly given by the company to an Authorized Reseller in France Wednesday, according to French site MacGeneration. The disclosure came in response to the reseller’s inquires about the future of the Mac Pro, the sale of which will soon be prohibited in Europe due to new EU safety requirements.
Several French Apple sites obtained copies of a newsletter from Apple Reseller France Systèmes this week. The newsletter, addressed to the reseller’s customers, discusesses the impending sales ban on the Mac Pro, but also surprisingly hints at the launch of the next Mac Pro. A translation of the newsletter reads:
We think nevertheless that the stop of the Pro Mac is temporary; Apple informs us that a new range Mac Pro goes out in the spring 2013. We will not hesitate to these ship these products to you as early as their introduction.
Apple technically updated the Mac Pro in June 2012, but the revision used outdated components and did not introduce new features, such as Thunderbolt. The Mac Pro is therefore still considered by many to be the same computer that Apple first shipped in 2010.
Following the disappointing update, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated in an email to a customer that “something really great” was coming for pro customers “later next year.” David Pogue of The New York Times also revealed that Apple executives told him that “new models and new designs are underway, probably for release in 2013.”
At this point there have been no significant leaks or rumors about an upcoming professional Mac and it is unknown if Apple will stick with the Mac Pro name or if a future release will be a totally separate product. It is also possible that Apple plans to slightly update the design of the current Mac Pro to meet the new EU safety guidelines, and that such an update is what the France Systèmes newsletter was referring to.
With the exception of the iPod classic, The Mac Pro is currently Apple’s most neglected product with nearly 31 months since the last major update.