Has Apple Lost the Plot with Final Cut Pro? | Larry Jordan
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Has Apple Lost the Plot with Final Cut Pro?
Posted on May 30, 2026 by Larry
This is a conversation I’m having with more and more editors today.
Since its first release, back in 1999, Apple had two divergent goals with Final Cut Pro. First, it appealed to Apple’s core market of creators. Final Cut offered new ways to tell stories working with then-new digital media. It brought video story-telling to people who could never tell them before.
However, the second – and I think larger – goal was that video required the absolute maximum of computer power. CPUs, GPUs, RAM, storage – ESPECIALLY storage – were taxed to the ultimate. In those early days, computer performance was everything. FCP became the bellwether for computer performance.
Two major events, both in 2020, changed Apple’s focus on Final Cut. First was Steve Bayes retirement from Apple. Steve was the senior product manager for Apple’s media software. He once told me that, as a former editor, his job was to keep the wheels from falling off Final Cut development.
The other major event that year was the advent of Apple silicon. Announced in June, the first Mac with an M-series chip was released in November, 2020. The power of Apple silicon truly did change everything.
While Apple has continued to improve their M-series chips, with new systems doing more and doing it faster, ANY M-series chip can edit 4K video, or 12K if your storage is fast enough. Twenty streams of 4K video? Piece of cake. For the first time since digital video began, computer speed was no longer an issue.
Today, we edit 8K media without a second thought and expect our projects to play in real-time without rendering.
There was no longer a material difference for video editing between an M2 vs M4 chip. Faster? Yes, but those early M-series chips edited video just fine. The driving need to upgrade hardware with each new release disappeared and, with it, Final Cut was no longer needed to drive hardware sales.
Video was handled.
Because of that, Apple seems to have lost interest in improving Final Cut. Yes, Apple continues to support it – which is GREAT! – and Apple does add new features. But those features are half-baked – like captions with no transcripts – or late – like taking eleven years to add timeline scrolling – or nonexistent – as can be seen when comparing recent new features from Adobe or Blackmagic Design to Final Cut.
Apple hardware is amazing. Final Cut Pro, though, seems to have lost its way. While still the fastest NLE on the market, it is no longer state-of-the-art, nor the most feature-rich. Apple may feel that FCP is old news, but there are still hundreds of thousands of editors who depend upon it every day to earn a living.
They deserve better from Apple.
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19 Responses to Has Apple Lost the Plot with Final Cut Pro?
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Jeff Orig says:
June 1, 2026 at 3:19 pm
I wish Apple would resurrect iMovie and make that the product that competes with CapCut. Then focus energy on FCPX and add all the features professionals and creators have been wanting for years. Also add all the AI features that DaVinci and Premiere already have. FCPX is fastest in regard to workflow. Once you get used the magnetic timeline, it is so much more efficient for certain kinds of edits.
It’s just a shame that Apple doesn’t show us that they still understand how important winning these categories are. They only sell hardware because the software and OS are good. Once they start losing the software and OS battles, then there are not many reasons to stay with the hardware. Apple Pages used to be software where non-designers could make a beautiful brochure or flyer. Now you go to Canva. Keynote is where you used to make amazing presentations. Now you use Gamma or Canva. Or if you want convenience you use Google Slides.
iMovie is free and was the best editor on iPHone. It was a great software for home movies. Final Cut Pro 7 was the perfect editor for professionals. FCPX was a poorly launched revolution in the editing metaphor. I honestly believe if they would have made FCPX an invite-only Beta in the beginning and gotten feedback, made changes, all the pros would have been clamoring to be invited to use it and make the switch.
Anyway, Apple is gonna do what their gonna do and we just have to sit here and take it.
Though one day, I think Blackmagic, a small privately owned company in Australia will make their Cut page the CapCut/FCPX/iMovie killer and almost everyone will switch.
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