This week, Apple introduced the MacBook Pro models powered by the newly announced M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The new Macs are currently available for pre-order and will be in stores on Wednesday, March 11. Therefore, the expectation that Apple will make a bigger MacBook Pro update in 2026 may come as a bit of a surprise.

Touchscreen and OLED Coming to MacBook Pro in 2026

Following the official announcement of the M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pro last week, Mark Gurman reported today in Bloomberg's Power On newsletter that "a high-quality MacBook with a touchscreen and OLED is expected to be released by the end of the year."

This machine will be the first Mac to feature either a touchscreen or an OLED display. Both are hardware features taken from the iPad Pro that are not currently available on the Mac.

Rumors suggest that the MacBook Pro update is expected to run on the M6 Pro/Max chip. When Apple announced the M5 Pro/Max chip, it was actually quite a routine MacBook Pro refresh.

However, this will not be the first time Apple has made two new M-series chip updates to the MacBook Pro within a year. Still, it is likely that this will happen sooner than it has in the past.

Apple Updated MacBook Pro Twice in 2023

On January 17, 2023, Apple introduced the M2 Pro/Max MacBook Pro. 286 days later, on October 30, 2023, Apple announced the M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro.

If Apple announces the M6 Pro/Max MacBook Pro within the same timeframe, we will have an announcement on December 14 of this year. Historically, Apple has announced a series of Macs in the early part of the year, which were then released in December. The 2019 Mac Pro, 2017 iMac Pro, and 2013 Mac Pro are notable examples.

However, even if Apple decides to get creative and give the first touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro a new name like MacBook Studio and charge more for it, it will still be a new and improved MacBook Pro, so a pre-announcement a few months in advance seems unlikely.

Instead, it seems possible that Apple could break its 286-day record and make an announcement in November, if the new MacBook Pro is ready by then.

From now on, everything could change, and there is always the possibility that this new machine could be launched in 2027. Fortunately, there is currently no such rumor.

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