Apple's New Mac Pro Inches Closer to Release With FCC Approval

Apple revealed its new Mac Pro at WWDC in June. The company hasn't been able to reveal a release date for the new system, however, due to regulatory issues. Now, it's finally one step closer to being able to sell the new Mac Pro, as the desktop PC received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval today.

Most new Apple products are only controversial on forums where PC enthusiasts complain about how much the company's target market is overpaying for parts. But the Mac Pro was different because some of its parts, including its power supply, needed to be made in China before the system proper was assembled in the U.S.

Companies are probably never going to receive praise for moving production to China. Apple's decision came at a particularly inopportune time, though, because of the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China. The U.S. has increased tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods over the last year.

Apple sought tax exemptions for the parts of the Mac Pro being made in China.  U.S. President Donald Trump originally said his administration wouldn't grant the exemptions but changed his mind after meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook in August.

A month later, Apple confirmed that it would continue to make the Mac Pro in Austin, Texas like it had since 2013. The company still didn't offer a release date, though. The Mac Pro's product page only says it's "coming this fall." Receiving the FCC's approval could mean the device will be ready to debut sooner than later.

The new Mac Pro features up to a 28-core Intel Xeon processor complemented by dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics cards enabled by Apple's new GPU connector, called the Mac Pro Expansion (MPX) Module . 

Mac Pro pricing will start at $5,999.