Apple just revealed its new M5 14-inch MacBook Pro earlier this week and reports are already coming in about the next lineup of MacBooks powered by the M6 chip. But this M6 line of MacBook Pros will come with another huge, potentially game-changing upgrade: a touchscreen.
According to a new report from Apple insider Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple is finally working on a high-end touchscreen MacBook Pro that is expected to be released in late 2026 or early 2027.
This would place the release of the touchscreen MacBook around the same time that Apple unveils its new silicon chipset, which is expected to be the M6.
Gurman reports that Apple’s touchscreen 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 would use this technology.
Apple is also reportedly developing “reinforced hinge and screen hardware” to address a problem facing existing touchscreen laptops, where the screen is pushed back or bounces when touched.
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Additionally, the touchscreen MacBook Pro would remove the controversial notch at the top of the screen. A “hole-hole design” similar to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island would take its place.
The touchscreen would make this MacBook Pro model the high-end version of a non-touch model. The new 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 currently costs $1,999. The touchscreen version of Apple’s 14-inch MacBook Pro is expected to be priced “a few hundred dollars more.”
As Gurman notes, Apple founder and former CEO Steve Jobs had spoken out against vertical touchscreen surfaces before his death in 2011. The company had apparently maintained this stance until a 2023 Report of Gurman noting that Apple engineers were study seriously a touchscreen MacBook for the first time.
Apple tried to minimize reports of a touchscreen Mac in 2024 when Tom Boger, Apple’s vice president of iPad and Mac product marketing, told the The Wall Street Journal that the company had no plans to release a touchscreen MacBook.
Apple tried to find a happy medium when it came to touchscreen with the Touch Bar, which debuted in October 2016. However, the Touchscreen Bar, built above the MacBook’s keyboard and replaced an entire row of physical keys, never really caught on. Apple retired the Touch Bar in 2023.
Touchscreen laptops have become quite standard in the industry, with most laptop manufacturers offering some type of touchscreen model. A bit like Apple’s late entry into the AI spacethe company would also be far behind its competitors in this area.
