I have long believed the Mac Pro is a marketing tool that they could happily sell at a “loss” — Using quotes because the difference could be considered a marketing expense.

Given the price it likely is sold for more than cost; I’m sure the pricing is marketing driven too. It doesn’t just drag the top end of pricing upwards (the classic cheap/middle/extravagant split that drives buyers to the middle) but sends a message. The $1K monitor stand is a good example,

In this theory, it’s important to Apple that something be almost always available in the “Mac Pro” zone, but it’s not important enough that they need to be diligent about it.

They have this same phenomenon with the super-expensive watches (though I believe the $10K models are gone): basically identical to the cheapest one, and “wear out” (stop getting sw updates, no battery replacements, etc) in the same time too.