It's been more than 1,100 days since Apple updated the Mac Pro. Some fans are worried the company could be giving up on pro desktops entirely as it focuses on mobile devices and making the iPad Pro a PC replacement. But Tim Cook insists that professional users are still incredibly important to Apple, and that the company has plans to "do more" in this area.
Apple hosted its annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday. As usual, it was followed by a Q&A session during which Cook addressed questions from attendees who were interested in Apple's plans for the future. One talking point was Apple's apparent neglect of creative and professional users, who are worried the company is giving up on them.
Cook reassured investors this wasn't the case. "You will see us do more in the pro area," he said. "The pro area is very important to us. The creative area is very important to us in particular. You can expect to see us do more and more that people will view iPad as a laptop replacement, but not a Mac replacement. The Mac does so much more."
That's certainly very true — despite what Apple's latest iPad Pro ads will have you believe. Nevertheless, Apple's entire desktop lineup is starting to look very long in the tooth. Not only has the Mac Pro seemingly been forgotten, but it's been over 500 days since the iMac was refreshed, and a whopping 860 days since Apple made any changes to the Mac mini.
What's more, we're seeing very little speculation that Mac Pro or Mac mini refreshes are on the way — though there have been rumors surrounding a new iMac. Apple is expected to introduce new models as early as this month, complete with USB-C ports for connectivity, new graphics chips from AMD, and more recent processors from Intel.
"Don't think something we've done or something that we're doing that isn't visible yet is a signal that our priorities are elsewhere," Cook added, indicating that Apple is indeed working on Mac upgrades, even if all of the rumors we're hearing are focused on other products. Just don't expect any of those new Macs to come with a touchscreen.
Cook again stressed to investors that Apple sees the Mac and iPad as two separate products that serve different purposes. His comments essentially rule out a Microsoft Surface competitor powered by a hybrid of macOS and iOS.
