The iconic ‘Trash Can’ Mac Pro is now on Apple’s ‘vintage products’ list

Apple’s infamous 2013 Mac Pro, with its unique cylindrical design, has been added to Apple’s vintage and obsolete products list, along with multiple 2019 iMac and 2018 iPad Pro models.

More than a decade ago, in 2013, the Mac Pro received its most controversial redesign to date. Unlike the 2012 model, which echoed the dated but tried-and-true rectangular tower form factor of the PowerMac G5, the 2013 Mac Pro was effectively a cylinder with compartmentalized innards.

It was designed to be different from the ground up, and it surely was — though not always in a good way, as the design wasn’t ideal for pro users. Despite its unique chassis and the fact that the cylindrical Mac Pro received hardware upgrades in 2017, Apple abandoned the design with the introduction of the 2019 Mac Pro, which marked a step back to the standard tower shape.

As for the iconic ‘Trash Can’ Mac Pro from 2013, the iPhone maker added the machine to its list of vintage products on July 11.

Apple considers one of its products “vintage” when it stopped distributing them for sale more than five years ago, and less than seven years ago. Once a product hasn’t been sold new for more than seven years, it’s then classified as “obsolete.” The company provides service and parts for vintage products for up to seven years, assuming the necessary parts are available.

Also on the list are 2019 iMac models, and both the 11-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro from 2019. The 128GB variant of the iPhone 8 has also joined its 64GB and 256GB counterparts on Apple’s vintage products list. The second-generation AirPort Express, 2TB and 3TB AirPort Time Capsules, and 802.11ac AirPort Extreme, meanwhile, have been placed on the company’s list of obsolete products.

It’s ultimately not much of a surprise that the unique 2013 Mac Pro was added to Apple’s vintage products list. Neither is Apple’s decision to give up on the unsustainable cylindrical design.

“Can’t innovate any more, my ass,” said Apple executive Phil Schiller during the product’s launch, but the company’s tune changed within only a few years, once it revealed in 2017 that it was working on a modular replacement for the “Trash Can” Mac Pro.

“We designed a system with the kind of GPUs that at the time we thought we needed, and that we thought we could well serve with a two-GPU architecture,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s hardware chief at the time. “That was the thermal limit we needed, or the thermal capacity we needed. But workloads didn’t materialize to fit that as broadly as we hoped.”

Federighi also admitted that Apple had designed itself “into a bit of a thermal corner” with the 2013 Mac Pro. Still, the computer remains a relatively capable and somewhat upgradable machine. Even though it can’t officially run macOS Sequoia, it’s possible to install the operating system using the OpenCore Legacy Patcher.

As for the future of the Mac Pro, AppleInsider has seen indications that a new model is in development. Given the apparent failure of the 2013 Mac Pro, however, it will most likely maintain the design of the current 2023 Mac Pro, which features Apple’s M2 Ultra chip.