[Update: Apple announced the real deal on Monday morning, and it turns out the image below wasn't it. Actually, the real Mac Pro does have dual GPUs and Thunderbolt 2, so that part was correct, but the form factor was off and then some. See our full coverage and John Martellaro's analysis for more information. – Editor]
An interesting image of what is supposedly a new Mac Pro was sent to several Mac sites on Sunday, including The Mac Observer. There's no context, there's no additional information, and there's zero track record with the anonymous sender, but it's an interesting image.
Image Tweeted to TMO & Other Mac Sites
The blurry text in the image says,
Mac Pro
with Dual GPU and Thunderbolt 2
gigantic graphics power and file transfers in a zip
As noted in the caption, the image came to us via a tweet, and it was from a brand new account clearly created with the intent of spreading this image, mcpro456. The sender has not replied to our requests for more information.
As such, we are in no way endorsing this as a bona fide leak, and we further suggest you examine it with a great big bag of salt on hand so that you can take a grain at a time as needed.
But, it's an interesting image. We've been teased by Apple CEO Tim Cook himself that a new Mac Pro would come out in 2013, and another Apple exec reportedly said that it would be worth the wait.
It's 2013, of course, but few are expecting Apple to announce a new Mac Pro at the company's World Wide Developer Conference, which starts on Monday, June 10th (tomorrow). There has been informed speculation that it is the new Mac Pro that will be built in a new Apple factory in Texas, and building out this new facility is part of the reason we've been waiting so long for a new model.
We mention this because the image appears to be of a webpage. If it is a leaked image from inside Apple, having a webpage mockup to leak suggests an imminent release, but again, this device hasn't been the source of the usual spate of rumors that precedes new Apple products.
Accordingly, it seems much more likely that this is a brilliant mockup by an Apple fan. If so, delivering it as a supposed screenshot is an absolutely genius way of doing so.
On the other hand, it would be pretty darned awesome if it was real. If so, we'll know in less than 24 hours (as of this writing).