Final Cut Pro 11 Says a Lot About Apple’s Software Goals

Apple Final Cut Pro 11 has arrived, not only ushering in the next generation of professional video editing for Apple but signaling the company’s revitalized and reinvigorated approach to creative professional software at large.

The news out of Cupertino is flowing at a breakneck pace these days. Alongside exciting hardware debuts, complete with the latest generation of Apple Silicon, Apple’s software news has been significant, too.

Beyond the company launching Apple Intelligence, news recently broke that Apple is buying Pixelmator, the company behind the Pixelmator Pro and Photomator image editing and design applications. Now, Apple has unveiled Final Cut Pro 11, the first “numbered” update to Final Cut in over a decade.

It’s been a long time coming. Apple released Final Cut Pro X in 2011. Since then, while Final Cut Pro X has been rebranded to Final Cut Pro — and now Final Cut Pro 11 — the non-linear video editing application remained in version 10 for 13 years. Before today, Final Cut Pro was running at version 10.8.1, released in August.

While the first major release in 13 years is big news in itself, it is just the latest in a series of significant changes Apple made in recent years, changes that, not too long ago, felt like they would never arrive.

Final Cut Pro Exiting the Doldrums Took a While

Taking a step back to 2011 when Final Cut Pro X dropped, entirely rewritten from the prior version, Final Cut Pro 7 (yes, the naming conventions are strange, but Apple wanted Final Cut Pro to match Mac OS X), the reception was poor. Final Cut Pro was once a big player in the video editing space, but then Final Cut Pro X landed with a thud, not a bang, with users lamenting the loss of many features. Rewriting a code base is challenging, and in Final Cut Pro X’s case, it came with significant compromises.

While features were added back in fits and bursts, the damage was done, and Final Cut Pro, once a dominant force in the video space, lost a lot of traction.

At this point, it seemed like Apple might just close the book on its professional video editing software. Users even signed a petition asking Apple to sell Final Cut Pro to a different developer.

However, Apple stayed the course, releasing regular updates to reintroduce older features, debut new ones, and move Final Cut Pro X along. Some users left and never came back, of course, but others, like PetaPixel‘s Jordan Drake stuck around. His and others’ loyalty has been rewarded in recent years, with Apple developing a very good and functional Final Cut Pro for iPad, a Final Cut Camera app for iPhone and continually increasing the frequency and quantity of Final Cut Pro updates on Mac.

And that leads us to today. Not only is Final Cut Pro 11 bringing many new features, but it is also reflective of Apple’s broader, growing software goals.

Final Cut Pro’s Revival Is a Testament to Apple’s Return to Professionals

As a longtime Mac user, since I was a kid using Mac OS 8, I’ve watched Apple change in myriad ways, some good, others not so much. However, arguably the worst change was Apple’s move from professional hardware and software development toward the broader consumer market.

It’s hard to pinpoint the low point for Apple’s professional market, but I’d put it sometime during the four-year period when Apple launched Final Cut Pro X, debuted the “trashcan” Mac Pro (my worst Apple purchase ever, although the Touch Bar MacBook Pro gives it a run for its money), and when Apple killed Aperture.

However, we’ve come full circle (mostly). Thanks to Apple Silicon, the Mac lineup is as powerful and capable as it has ever been. Final Cut Pro is no longer a shell of its former self. Hell, even the iPhone — the device that lured Apple’s attention away from the Mac for too long — is a professional imaging device these days.

Most importantly, it feels like Apple is serious about the professional user again. The company’s marketing, the way it introduces and talks about its products and the way it allocates developmental resources all point in a positive direction. No company can ever be everything for everyone, it is an impossible goal that is a mistake to chase. However, if Apple’s approach to Final Cut Pro 11 is any indication, the company not only cares about the professional market but wants to spend the time and money to provide it with something worthwhile.

Final Cut Pro 11 introduces a lot of exciting new features, including impressive AI-powered masking, and lives up to its “Pro” billing. There are plenty of great options for video editors, including Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, but Mac users can comfortably count Final Cut Pro 11 among them.

Although it remains unclear if Final Cut Pro 11 will occupy the same position of influence as Final Cut Pro 7 Studio did when it was replaced 13 years ago, it is crystal clear that Apple is serious about professional software. Final Cut Pro 11 says a lot about Apple’s software goals, yes, but the company’s broader investment into professional software, a space that once looked abandoned, also speaks to Apple’s ambitions as a one-stop shop for creators at large. Hardware, software, services, everything under one roof.

We’re still a long ways from Apple’s software being enough reason to convert someone from PC to Mac, but we’re not far from a world where a Mac owner, even a professional one, may be able to create everything they need with an Apple-developed application. Audio? Check. Video? Of course. Photography? Maybe. Very few companies can tick all those software boxes — really, only one: Adobe — and nobody does so while also making the computers that run the software. Apple could. Whether it will remains to be seen.

Image credits: Featured image includes an image from Apple and an asset licensed via Depositphotos.