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The Mac Studio, originally released in 2022, has become Apple’s premier desktop for professional users, effectively replacing the now-discontinued Mac Pro for the vast majority of workflows.
Designed for high-end workloads, the Mac Studio has emerged as a popular choice for serious AI and machine learning tasks. This is largely due to its high unified memory capacity and specialised silicon architecture, which address one of the primary bottlenecks in AI workloads: memory capacity and memory bandwidth.
If you are considering buying a Mac Studio, you may be wondering whether an update is imminent. The current lineup features M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips, introduced in March 2025. A new generation with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips is widely expected in 2026.
This article tracks the latest reports and rumours surrounding the next Mac Studio, including its potential release date, specifications, and pricing.
2026 Mac Studio: Release date
- Possible release in October 2026
Apple has not yet officially released or announced a specific launch date for the Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips. However, multiple reports and industry analysts have converged on a release window within the first half of 2026.
Back in November 2025 Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported, based on leaked internal files, that the M5 Max and M5 Ultra Mac Studio models were on Apple’s release schedule for the first half of 2026. Other projections suggest a debut as in June, potentially aligning with Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which has previously served as a launch venue for professional Macs – most notably the M2 Max and M2 Ultra Mac Studio in June 2023.
The broader M5 rollout also supports this timeline. The base M5 chip debuted in the MacBook Pro in October 2025, followed by M5 Pro and M5 Max variants in March 2026. With the M5 Max now in production (a typical precursor to its use in desktop systems) a summer 2026 launch appears plausible.
However, this timeline is complicated by ongoing supply constraints in the global RAM market. Demand driven by AI infrastructure, particularly from hyperscalers operating large-scale data centres, has placed significant pressure on memory supply.
These constraints are already affecting the current Mac Studio lineup. In March 2026, Apple removed the 512GB RAM upgrade option for the M3 Ultra configuration and increased the price of the 256GB option by $400, reflecting rising DRAM costs.
Availability has also been impacted. As of April 2026, delivery estimates range from 3–4 weeks for entry-level configurations, 5–6 weeks for 64GB models, and up to 10–12 weeks for certain mid-tier configurations. Higher-end models with 128GB and 256GB of memory are currently unavailable.
On April 19, 2026, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that “supply chain snags” are affecting production. As a result, the Mac Studio may slip into October 2026.
2026 Mac Studio: Processor
- Expected to feature M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips
Apple
The Mac Studio currently ships with Apple’s M-series Max and Ultra chips. The 2025 Mac Studio launched with the expected M4 Max chip, but the highest-end configuration surprisingly used an M3 Ultra instead of a newer M4 Ultra. While the M3 Ultra is technically faster than the M4 Max, it is based on an older generation of Apple silicon, and Apple has not explained why an M4 Ultra was never released.
That situation is unlikely to repeat with the next generation. Reports suggest Apple has canceled development of the M4 Ultra entirely, meaning the upcoming Mac Studio will skip that chip generation.
Instead, the next Mac Studio is expected to feature:
M5 Max: Likely built on Apple’s new Fusion Architecture, first introduced in the 2026 MacBook Pro lineup. This architecture combines two 3nm dies into a unified system-on-a-chip (SoC), allowing more flexible core configurations and improved performance scaling.
M5 Ultra: Expected to remain Apple’s most powerful desktop silicon, potentially continuing Apple’s apparent two-year release cadence for Ultra-tier chips.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claims that Apple plans to offer both the M5 Max and M5 Ultra in the next Mac Studio. MacRumors also reported in December 2025 that references to Mac Studio models powered by the M5 Max and M5 Ultra appeared in leaked Apple files.
As of March 2026, Apple has officially launched the M5 Max as part of its latest MacBook Pro lineup, while the M5 Ultra remains unreleased but widely expected to debut in a new Mac Studio later this year.
M5 Max specifications
- CPU: The chip features an 18-core CPU, including 6 “super cores” (a rebranded version of Apple’s performance cores optimized for leading single-thread speeds) and 12 additional performance cores designed for multithreaded professional workloads.
- GPU: The M5 Max is available with either a 32-core or 40-core GPU. Each GPU core now includes integrated Neural Accelerators, significantly improving AI and machine-learning workloads.
M5 Ultra specifications
Although Apple has not yet officially announced the M5 Ultra, it is expected to follow Apple’s established approach of combining two Max chips into a single processor.
Because an Ultra chip effectively links two Max dies together, the M5 Ultra could potentially deliver:
- CPU: Up to a 36-cores.
- GPU: Up to an 80-cores.
If those projections hold, the M5 Ultra would significantly outperform the current M3 Ultra, which still leads the M5 Max in graphics-heavy benchmarks due to its higher GPU core count.
The M5 Ultra is widely expected to reclaim Apple’s GPU performance lead while delivering substantial gains in CPU and AI performance, making it the centerpiece of the next Mac Studio.
2026 Mac Studio: Other specs
- Bigger SSD expected as standard
Thomas Bergbold
The introduction of the M5 Max chip with the 2026 MacBook Pro offers some insight into what we might expect from the same generation of Mac Studio.
Increased memory bandwidth: The base M5 chip already delivers a 28 percent improvement in memory bandwidth over the M4, reaching 153GB/s. It is expected that the M5 Max and M5 Ultra variants in the Mac Studio will see proportional increases in their respective bandwidths. The high-end configuration is likely to support up to 128GB of unified memory with 614GB/s of memory bandwidth, enabling demanding workflows such as 3D rendering, large-scale video editing, and AI development.
Increased SSD speeds: Testing of the M5 Max architecture in other devices has revealed impressive disk speed results, as noted in our 16-inch MacBook Pro (M5 Max) review. Faster read/write speeds and improved performance with large files should be expected.
Connectivity: The platform supports Thunderbolt 5 (80–120Gbps bandwidth), Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6, enabled by Apple’s new N1 networking chip.
Anticipated improvements include:
RAM allocation: Base memory is likely to remain at 36GB for the M5 Max and 96GB for the M5 Ultra. The maximum capacity for the Ultra will likely remain at 256GB, although supply constraints could influence configurations.
Storage capacities: The M5 Max is expected to start at 1TB, up from 512GB. The M5 Ultra may start at 2TB, up from 1TB. Maximum storage capacities will likely remain at 8TB for the Max and 16TB for the Ultra.
2026 Mac Studio: Design & Ports
- No changes expected
The Mac Studio made its debut in 2022, so it’s only three years old. Apple is expected to stick with the same design, which is also reflected in the M4 Mac mini, as no reports have been made about the design.
Foundry
The port offerings are also expected to remain the same. The Mac Studio has:
- M-series Max model: 2 front USB-C ports (supporting USB 3 at 10Gbps)
- M-series Ultra model: 2 front Thunderbolt 5 ports
- front SDHX Card slot
- rear 3.5mm audio jack
- 4 rear Thunderbolt 5 ports
- 2 rear USB-A ports
- HDMI port
- 10Gb ethernet port
2026 Mac Studio: Price
The Mac Studio currently starts at $1,999 / £2,099, but there are strong indications that Apple could raise prices when it updates its desktop lineup later this year due to supply chain pressures and rising component costs.
One sign that the Mac Studio’s price could increase is Apple’s recent move to raise the entry cost of its high-end Macs. In March 2026, Apple removed lower-capacity storage tiers from the MacBook Pro lineup, pushing the starting price of the M5 Max model to $3,599 because it now ships with a 2TB SSD by default.
If Apple follows the same strategy with the Mac Studio, it may raise the base price while simultaneously increasing the starting RAM and storage configurations to soften the perception of the price increase.
For example, if Apple increases the entry-level SSD from 512GB to 1TB – a likely change – the base price could rise by roughly $200 / £200, although the U.K. increase may be smaller to keep regional pricing more closely aligned.
Several broader factors could also contribute to higher prices:
RAM shortage and component costs: A global surge in demand for AI hardware has created significant pressure on memory supply, leading to higher RAM prices across the industry.
Supply chain constraints: During a 2026 earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is seeing “less flexibility in the supply chain than normal,” adding that wholesale memory pricing is “increasing significantly.”
For reference, the current 2025 Mac Studio base configurations are priced as follows:
- $1,999/£2,099/CA$2,699/AU$3,499 M4 Max, 36GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD
- $3,999/£4,199/CA$5,499/AU$6,999 M3 Ultra, 96GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD
Historically, Apple has shown a willingness to raise starting prices when transitioning between generations. The Mac Pro, for example, increased from $5,999 to $6,999 when Apple Silicon replaced Intel processors.
However, Apple has also positioned the Mac Studio as a relatively affordable high-performance desktop for creative professionals. Since its introduction, the machine has started at $1,999, helping maintain a clear price gap below the $3,199-plus MacBook Pro lineup.
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