Apple just revealed the first MacBook Pro with an M5 processor, but a much bigger overhaul to the company’s best laptop might be incoming as soon as a year from now.
According to the erstwhile Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, the M6 MacBook Pro would be a significant revamp, including an OLED display and… wait for it… a touchscreen!
Apple has long resisted the calls for a laptop with a touch service, instead guiding users to an increasingly Mac-like iPad proposition with its highly functional Magic Keyboard.
In 2018, the company’s SVP of software engineering said: “We really feel that the ergonomics of using a Mac are that your hands are rested on a surface, and that lifting your arm up to poke a screen is a pretty fatiguing thing to do.” In fact there have been so many such instances of resistance from Apple over the years, I’d resigned myself to a touchscreen MacBook never happening. Not that I think it needs to happen, but that’s besides the point.
According to the report from the very reliable Gurman, Apple will continue to offer a full trackpad and keyboard within the MacBook Pro M6, so it’d be very much about giving users another method of input if they desire. Perhaps Apple Pencil input would be of use, rather than continually prodding at a screen and pushing it away from the desired viewing angle?
And to that specific point, Apple also has a plan, according to Gurman. The revamped MacBook Pro would have “a reinforced hinge and screen hardware to prevent the display from bouncing back or moving when touched.” That sounds as if it could solve the problem. Other potential changes include ditching the unloved display notch in favour of a punch-hole, along with a thinner and lighter design.
Gurman expects the MacBook Pro M6 to launch late 2026 or early 2027. So, if you don’t strictly need to update your MacBook Pro now, it may be an idea to hang fire and see how this story develops into the new year. That MacBook Pro M5 mightn’t be the no-brainer.
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