Touch Screen Ahead? macOS 27.2 May Be Preparing the Mac for Your Fingers
Touchscreen MacBook Pro concept image [iDrop News / AI]
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Evidence is mounting that a touchscreen MacBook Pro is just around the corner, thanks to new code and a new UI interaction found in this week’s macOS 27.2 developer beta.
New touch-specific gestures have been found hidden in Apple’s first-party apps in macOS 27.2 Golden Gate, including Safari, Notes, Photos, and even Quick Look. While these aren’t user-facing yet, MacRumors reports on “gesture recognition tools” that would not only track touch presses, but also “dwells” (essentially long presses) and drags.
The code snippets were found by Aaron Perris, although he acknowledges that they could simply be for iPad Sidecar — the feature that allows an iPad to serve as a Mac’s second screen.
However, in another fun twist, macOS 27.2 also has a new long-press animation for Dock icons:
You can test this one yourself if you’re already running the third macOS 27.2 beta; just click and hold on any dock icon and you’ll see it expand, in much the same way as Home Screen icons on the iPhone and iPad.
Rumors that Apple was working on bringing a touchscreen to its OLED MacBook Pro began circulating in earnest in late 2025 and began ramping up earlier this year. Despite it seeming like something Apple would never do — it’s spent years using the touchscreen to draw a firm line between the iPad and the Mac — the world has changed since those days. Plus, the company has a new CEO who has risen up through the ranks of its hardware engineering division.
By all accounts, the touchscreen MacBook Pro is now slated to arrive by the end of this year, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who has been one of the most prolific sources of information on Apple’s plans, recently suggesting an early November launch at the latest. While Apple is expected to hold some kind of event next week to launch several new home products, the consensus is that Apple will hold a separate launch event later this month for the touchscreen MacBook and other new Macs that it has in the pipeline, such as the entry-level M6 MacBook Pro and the M6 iMac.
What’s less clear right now is what form this new touchscreen MacBook will take. Some reports have suggested this will be an entirely new higher-end model that sits above the current MacBook Pro — even speculating on the name “MacBook Ultra” (although we won’t hold our breath on that one).
However, it’s still expected to be sold with an M5 Pro and M5 Max chip, similar to the MacBook Pro models that Apple released in March, with the only other change being an OLED panel and a redesigned form factor that’s also expected to shed a few ounces.
That makes it hard to say if Apple even plans to release the touchscreen MacBook Pro as a distinct product at all. The MacBook lineup is overdue for a move to OLED, so this may simply be the next generation of the higher-end MacBook Pro models, with the touchscreen taking up the same spot as the Touch Bar did in 2016.
Despite the common naming, Apple has actually sold two classes of MacBook Pro for years. The M3–M5 generation are arguably the closest they’ve ever gotten, but the base M-series models are still set apart from the higher-end models in several ways, and it’s telling that this model has frequently launched on its own.
So, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Apple simply release two new redesigned MacBook Pro models, featuring a touchscreen OLED panel and the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. That would allow the company to refresh the lineup with some more compelling higher-end MacBooks while it waits for the next generation of M7 chips to be ready, since it’s reportedly skipping the higher-end chips for the M6 cycle.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
