I think the AS Mac Pro won’t drop in price/accessibility one bit. If anything, it’ll go up. It’ll be even more “for those people”.
In my mind, the Mac Studio is more what the Mac Pro (and Power Mac) were. Sub-$3,000 Macs “for everyone”.
To me it’s a naming/positioning thing…flip flop it around: call the Mac Studio “Mac Pro”, and the $5,999+ Mac Pro “Mac Studio” (or some other word that evokes “special, targeted niche performance for that sliver of customers who have no qualms about dropping $8,000+ on a new rig every few years”.
The 14” and 16” notebooks and that new Mac Studio, with all its BTO options, is more than enough for just about every print, imaging and design “pro” out there. If you’re doing the heavy, serious modeling, animation, 3D, video and things like that, you’re almost something beyond “pro”.
The Pro notebooks and that new Mac studio should be seen as a "pro" desktop/notebook pairing, both inhabiting that $2,000-4,000 space. And then the big, pricey tower existing in its own universe for those who
truly need it (face it, most don't).
Apple names their stuff weird/wrong, IMO.