The touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro Could Arrive Later This Month
Toggle Dark Mode
In case there was any doubt, it looks like Apple still plans to release its touchscreen MacBook Pro before the end of 2026, although we might not see it until November.
That’s the latest from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who launched a Power On podcast today. In the debut episode, Gurman joins Bloomberg tech editor Vlad Savov to discuss all the buzz on what he believes Apple is up to, according to his inside sources.
While much of the chat revolves around Apple’s smart home plans that Gurman revealed earlier this week, he also still strongly believes Apple is “gearing up seriously” to get the touchscreen MacBook Pro out this year.
While Apple is widely expected to hold an event on October 13 to show off its new smart home hub, alongside a new Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini, we’re not expecting the Mac to get any stage time there. Much as it did with its “Surprise and Shine” event last month, Apple will likely prefer to keep the focus on its plans for the smart home ecosystem.
Gurman isn’t saying much about how or when Apple might unveil the touchscreen MacBook, but it’s telling that the word “Mac” didn’t appear once in yesterday’s Bloomberg report other than to list the platforms Siri AI launched on and compare the smart home hub to “the famous iMac G4 from 2002.”
That makes it a pretty safe bet that Apple will host another event, likely later in October, to unveil the touchscreen MacBook Pro. Much like the iPhone Duo, that’s going to be a paradigm-shifting product that Apple undoubtedly wants to highlight on its own.
Apple, I believe, will introduce its first touchscreen MacBook Pro this fall, as early as October. Could slip to November, but as early as October. And Apple is testing it internally, using macOS 27.2, which is a beta that they’ve already put out to developers in recent weeks.
Mark Gurman
Some of the designs in macOS 27 Golden Gate definitely lean into the notion of a touchscreen Mac, with Gurman noting how UI elements like volume controls and the Control Center have gotten more touch-friendly.
This is also expected to be the first MacBook with an OLED panel, and Gurman confirms other reports we’ve heard that it will also ditch the notch of the current MacBook Pro models in favor of a Dynamic Island.
While some have suggested that Apple will launch this as a third tier of MacBook, possibly dubbed the “MacBook Ultra,” there are plenty of reasons to believe that name won’t happen. We already saw how the speculation around the “iPhone Ultra” turned out to be nothing more than smoke, and it would be even more unusual to use the same moniker Apple uses for its highest-end M-series chip — a chip found only in the Mac Studio — for a MacBook Pro, which is extremely unlikely to contain such a powerful chip (and even in the very implausible chance that it does, it would undoubtedly still be sold with M5 Pro and M5 Max configurations).
At this point, it’s 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, and while the touchscreen is an obvious addition, there’s no reason to assume this won’t simply be the next generation of the MacBook Pro lineup.
After all, Apple prefers to keep things simple, and just because a MacBook Pro has a touchscreen, that doesn’t mean users will be obligated to do anything with it. Over the years, Apple has frequently sold two classes of MacBook Pro. In 2016, that lower-end model lacked the Touch Bar that came to the premium flagships, and when Apple moved to Apple silicon in 2020, it didn’t even redesign the entry-level model until the M3 came along in 2023.
So, this could simply be a repeat of that. Just like only the pricier MacBook Pro models got the Touch Bar, the higher-end M5 Pro and M5 Max models come equipped with a touchscreen and OLED, while the entry-level M5 MacBook Pro (likely soon to be replaced with an M6 version) gets the more basic configuration.
It’s even conceivable that Apple could offer the touchscreen as an option, much like it already does with the nano-texture display. That seems less likely, but we can’t rule it out entirely.
Either way, we shouldn’t have to wait much longer to find out. While most of the attention over the next few weeks will be on Apple’s smart home plans and the upcoming iPhone Duo launch, it seems that we’ll barely have time to catch our breath before Apple is out with the next big thing.
[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.]
