Apple just unveiled its new 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro earlier this week and reports are already coming in about the next line of MacBooks powered by the M6 chip. But, that M6 line of MacBook Pros will come with another huge, potentially game-changing upgrade — a touchscreen.
According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Apple insider Mark Gurman, Apple is finally working on a high-end touchscreen MacBook Pro to be released in late 2026 or early 2027.
This would place the touchscreen MacBook’s release around the same time Apple would unveil its new Silicone chipset, expected to be the M6.
Gurman reports that Apple’s touchscreen display would use OLED technology, similar to that of the iPhone and iPad Pro. The use of these thinner displays would mark the first time a MacBook Pro utilized the technology.
Apple would also develop a “reinforced hinge and screen hardware” in order to solve a problem existing touchscreen laptops face, where the display gets pushed back or bounces when touched.
In addition, the touchscreen MacBook Pro would get rid of the controversial notch at the top of the display. A “hole-punch design” similar to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island would take its place.
The touchscreen display would make this model of MacBook Pro the high-end version of a non-touchscreen model. The new 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro currently retails for $1,999. The touchscreen version of Apple’s 14-inch MacBook Pro should be released at a price point of “a few hundred dollars more.”
As Gurman notes, Apple founder and former CEO Steve Jobs had come out against vertical touchscreen surfaces before his passing in 2011. The company had seemingly stood by that stance until a 2023 report from Gurman noting that Apple engineers were seriously looking into a touchscreen MacBook for the first time.
Apple attempted to downplay reports of a touchscreen Mac in 2024 when Tom Boger, Apple’s vice president of iPad and Mac product marketing, told the Wall Street Journal that the company wasn’t planning to release a touchscreen MacBook.
Apple attempted to find a touchscreen middle ground with the touch bar, which debuted in October 2016. However, the touchscreen bar sliver integrated above the MacBook’s keyboard and replaced a whole row of physical keys, never really caught on. Apple retired the touch bar in 2023.
Touchscreen laptops have become fairly standard across the industry, with most laptop manufacturing offering some type of touchscreen model. Much like Apple’s late entry into the AI space, the company would be well behind its competitors in this area too.
