In an effort to produce an advanced four engined strategic bomber for the Luftwaffe, a proposal was made by Junkers during 1944 to create a simplified design by combining sub-assemblies of the Ju 188, Ju 288, and Ju 388 to new wing and fuselage assemblies. This would result in a sleek aircraft with a length of almost 20.4 m (67 ft) and a wingspan of nearly 31.4 m (103 ft). The Ju 488 was to be initially powered by four BMW 801J radial engines. Later versions were to be powered by four Jumo 222 engines. The first two prototypes, Ju 488 V401 and V402 had fuselage sections constructed at the Latécoère factory in France, while the other components were being prepared at Junkers factories in Germany. The Ju 488 V401 and V402 fuselages were completed by 1944, but were damaged by French resistance on 16 July, 1944. Construction of four more prototypes, the V403 to V406, continued at low priority and were not finished by the end of the war.

The Junkers Ju 488 represented the last, and most serious, challenge to Heinkel, in that German aviation's firm to promote the Heinkel He 277 to production status, and on which all design work stopped early in April 1944, with the Ju 488 itself being abandoned late that same year.