Apple's Custom "Hidra" SoC Reportedly Exclusive to Next-gen Mac Pro

[T0@st]

Apple's top-end M4 Ultra desktop-class chipset is allegedly going to feature on upcoming Mac Pro and Mac Studio refreshes—new product unveilings could be on the company's schedule (WWDC 2025). Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has divulged intriguing M4-series information within his latest newsletter. The M4 Ultra SoC—codenamed "Hidra"—was previously believed to be the most powerful processor option available on both next-gen Mac Pro and Mac Studio platforms. Now, Gurman believes that Apple engineers have created a distinct custom chipset design—exclusively designed for the Mac Pro workstation product stack—that sits above their M4 Ultra SoC.

Somewhat confusingly he suggests that "Hidra" is the codename for this top-of-the-line processor. Rumors swirled last month about the cancellation of an alleged "Extreme" model, so there is a degree of uncertainty surrounding unannounced M4 SKUs. Potential customers could choose Apple's (potentially) more powerful "Hidra-equipped" Mac Pro workstation over the highest-end M4 Ultra-based Mac Studio model. Industry experts propose that "Hidra" will arrive with an increased number of CPU and GPU cores—exceeding the M4 Ultra's speculated makeup of a 32-core CPU and an 80-core GPU.



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[Daven]

These Mac 'Pro' workstations have max of 192GB of RAM with no means to upgrade after purchase. They lack dual socket options. You cannot add Tegra, Instinct or client-based GPUs. The Mx SoC is not suitable for high-end workstations. They are basically a Mac Studio with PCIe slots for an additional $3000 with no real professional features.

 

[ZoneDymo]

These Mac 'Pro' workstations have max of 192GB of RAM with no means to upgrade after purchase. They lack dual socket options. You cannot add Tegra, Instinct or client-based GPUs. The Mx SoC is not suitable for high-end workstations. They are basically a Mac Studio with PCIe slots for an additional $3000 with no real professional features.

yeah but its the church of Apple, so it will sell.

 

[kondamin]

These Mac 'Pro' workstations have max of 192GB of RAM with no means to upgrade after purchase. They lack dual socket options. You cannot add Tegra, Instinct or client-based GPUs. The Mx SoC is not suitable for high-end workstations. They are basically a Mac Studio with PCIe slots for an additional $3000 with no real professional features.

That is their first iteration of the product, maybe they found out there are people willing to pay over 100k for a workstation making dual and quad socket solutions with terabytes of ram a thing with AI market potential

 

[Daven]

yeah but its the church of Apple, so it will sell.

To be fair, the Mac Pro in its current form was designed originally for 300W Intel Xeon W processors with dozens of cores. It supported up to 1.5 TB of RAM and you could add two dual GPU boards for four total GPUs. Then Apple changed to their own silicon designed up from a smartphone SoC and surprise, surprise, the MX Ultra was a pathetic workstation CPU/GPU combo versus what you can buy from the X86, data center GPU world.

That is their first iteration of the product, maybe they found out there are people willing to pay over 100k for a workstation making dual and quad socket solutions with terabytes of ram a thing with AI market potential

It's only the first iteration using Apple silicon. They already had support for Xeons and Radeon Pros. If they stayed on that path, they could have had 128 Core Epycs and Instinct/Tegra inside that box by now.

 

[efikkan]

To be fair, the Mac Pro in its current form was designed originally for 300W Intel Xeon W processors with dozens of cores. It supported up to 1.5 TB of RAM and you could add two dual GPU boards for four total GPUs. Then Apple changed to their own silicon designed up from a smartphone SoC and surprise, surprise, the MX Ultra was a pathetic workstation CPU/GPU combo versus what you can buy from the X86, data center GPU world.

Almost $10K for a "laptop" in a "cheese grater" (or perhaps more of an oversized phone if we're honest), and that's before adding multiple SSDs, HDDs etc. Oh wait, there is only 2 SATA ports. Shared memory, and no ECC, right? Not much of a workstation platform.

Just imagine what kind of Threadripper or Xeon W systems you can build for that price… (Or a modest one that still rocks this one and have money to spare.)

I wouldn't have high expectations for a custom new chip either, they simply can't compete without having special acceleration.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

yeah but its the church of Apple, so it will sell.

Actually from what I read, most “church going” Apple customers are disappointed with the current Mac Pro. The only reason to buy one right now is for very specific add-in cards. This chip might be a more legitimate attempt at appeasing the workstation crowd, but the current design strategy of Apple Silicon really sinks Apple’s workstation endeavors.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

Actually from what I read, most “church going” Apple customers are disappointed with the current Mac Pro. The only reason to buy one right now is for very specific add-in cards. This chip might be a more legitimate attempt at appeasing the workstation crowd, but the current design strategy of Apple Silicon really sinks Apple’s workstation endeavors.

Their workstations mostly go to commercial firms. For items like this MacOS or apple software is mandatory thus the ask. At this level cost is no object. Workstations, regardless of Windows or MacOS or the hardware vendor at this scale are generally leased. They are there for two years and then when the lease is up they are moved to the next thing and sent back to a vendor like CDW.

Worstations like this generally only do one task. Some will only edit video, some only CAD/CAM, others only AI/ML/DL. Buying or purchasing won't change that they will only do one thing. So the lack of flexibility is a non issue.

 

[Daven]

Actually from what I read, most “church going” Apple customers are disappointed with the current Mac Pro. The only reason to buy one right now is for very specific add-in cards. This chip might be a more legitimate attempt at appeasing the workstation crowd, but the current design strategy of Apple Silicon really sinks Apple’s workstation endeavors.

To meet workstation demands, Apple would need to…

• Provide up to 1 TB of RAM or greater
• Provide over 100 performance cores or greater
• Provide 5090 level of GPU power or greater
• Provide 16 TB or greater total SSD capacity

 

[dyonoctis]

To be fair, the Mac Pro in its current form was designed originally for 300W Intel Xeon W processors with dozens of cores. It supported up to 1.5 TB of RAM and you could add two dual GPU boards for four total GPUs. Then Apple changed to their own silicon designed up from a smartphone SoC and surprise, surprise, the MX Ultra was a pathetic workstation CPU/GPU combo versus what you can buy from the X86, data center GPU world.


It's only the first iteration using Apple silicon. They already had support for Xeons and Radeon Pros. If they stayed on that path, they could have had 128 Core Epycs and Instinct/Tegra inside that box by now.

To be fair Apple already knows 99% their target customers: content creation. Apple gave up on anything related to HPC since they retired Xserve, and they never provided a driver for AMD HPC hardware. You can't install an instinct GPU even in the old Mac pro. In things like music production, video production, graphic design, photograpy, the Mac stays a favorite. Wich is in part due to the way MacOS handle "exotic" images files compared to windows. A mac can show you the preview of an AI/PSD/EXR/ Various RAW files natively in the finder. Wich is something that microsoft can't be bothered to implement.


Nvidia is also a company that they will never ever get involved with. There's a nasty bad blood between them, and their business strategy will clash with one another. Apple doesn't want to see a single Mac running CUDA. They've preferred to let Nvidia take over the 3D market rather than being involved with them again.

Then

Now

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

To be fair Apple already knows 99% their target customers: content creation. Apple gave up on anything related to HPC since they retired Xserve, and they never provided a driver for AMD HPC hardware. You can't install an instinct GPU even in the old Mac pro. In things like music production, video production, graphic design, photograpy, the Mac stays a favorite. Wich is in part due to the way MacOS handle "exotic" images files compared to windows. A mac can show you the preview of an AI/PSD/EXR/ Various RAW files natively in the finder. Wich is something that microsoft can't be bothered to implement.


Nvidia is also a company that they will never ever get involved with. There's a nasty bad blood between them, and their business strategy will clash with one another. Apple doesn't want to see a single Mac running CUDA. They've preferred to let Nvidia take over the 3D market rather than being involved with them again.

At the corporate level apple is dominant in yes creation and that's not changing but it's also really common with developers. It's dominant in that with some of the biggest players as well but those are mac pros. There are also some weird cases (electronic music creation and live performances) where they are also really the entire game. The terminal plays a huge role in this.

They are also huge in education. Especially in STEM fields Mac is the recommended computer.

They are largely out of CAD/CAM as well now as Quadro drivers dominate that space and as you said they hate nvidia.

 

[kondamin]

Almost $10K for a "laptop" in a "cheese grater" (or perhaps more of an oversized phone if we're honest), and that's before adding multiple SSDs, HDDs etc. Oh wait, there is only 2 SATA ports. Shared memory, and no ECC, right? Not much of a workstation platform.

Just imagine what kind of Threadripper or Xeon W systems you can build for that price… (Or a modest one that still rocks this one and have money to spare.)

I wouldn't have high expectations for a custom new chip either, they simply can't compete without having special acceleration.

And they would have to keep maintaining their x86 code base, which is something they are pretty much done with right about now.
Their product stack is mostly in-house now and that’s making and saving them a heck of a lot of money.

wouldnt surprise me to learn they are working on some sort of apple intelligence chip they can charge 20K a pop for to make use of those expansion ports.

 

[mechtech]

so the cheese grater case is still a thing??