MacBook Pro overhaul: OLED, touchscreen, thinner design

Apple is planning a major MacBook Pro update for later this year or early next, according to multiple reports cited by 9to5Mac. The revamp would bring the first OLED display to a Mac, Apple’s first touchscreen laptop, a thinner and lighter chassis, and a potential name change — but with an unexpected chip decision.

Display gets OLED and touch

Sources including analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg report that Apple will switch from mini-LED to OLED for the MacBook Pro. OLED allows individual pixels to turn off completely, giving true blacks and higher contrast. Mini-LED, by contrast, relies on a backlight system.

The same machine will also be Apple’s first touchscreen Mac. Bloomberg says macOS is being reworked to enlarge controls when you tap the menu bar and to support pinch-to-zoom and faster scrolling. 9to5Mac notes this is “a lot more than Apple simply adding a touchscreen to a Mac.”

Notch replaced by hole-punch and Dynamic Island

The current MacBook Pro’s camera notch will reportedly be swapped for a hole-punch cutout, and the Dynamic Island is coming to the Mac for the first time. On the iPhone, that area masks the camera cutout and shows Live Activities and notifications.

Thinner, lighter, and a possible new name

Apple is said to be making the MacBook Pro thinner than the 2021 model, though it’s unclear whether ports like HDMI and SD card will stick around. The laptop will also be “significantly lighter,” according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who says Apple “reengineered the machine’s interior, miniaturizing parts.”

Gurman has also floated the name “MacBook Ultra” to “more clearly signal their position at the top of the lineup.”

The chip twist: M5 Pro/Max instead of M6

It was widely expected the new MacBook Pros would get M6 Pro and M6 Max chips. But 9to5Mac reports that Apple is instead skipping higher-end M6 variants and will use the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips found in current models. The M6 will be available only in its base configuration. Apple’s focus is shifting to the M7 generation, which will emphasize AI performance.

That decision complicates the marketing: a major redesign with the same processor generation may confuse buyers.

Our take: Wait

The current MacBook Pro was just updated in March. If you can hold off, the OLED-or-touchscreen redesign is likely a bigger leap than a minor chip bump. Even if Apple sticks with M5 Pro/Max, the screen, weight, and form-factor changes could make it worth waiting for — especially if you’re still on an Intel Mac.

• Apple
• M5 Max
• M5 Pro
• MacBook Pro
• MacBook Ultra
• Mark Gurman
• OLED
• touchscreen