Apple’s biggest MacBook redesign in years could arrive as soon as October, with the company reportedly preparing high-end notebooks featuring OLED touchscreens, thinner enclosures and a new display cutout.
The machines have been referred to in reports as redesigned MacBook Pro models and, more recently, as a possible new MacBook Ultra tier. Their exact launch timing remains less certain than Apple’s expected M6 14-inch MacBook Pro, with a window stretching from late 2026 into early 2027.
The touchscreen would be a landmark change. Apple has resisted bringing touch input to the Mac display for years, keeping touch-centric interactions on iPad while the Mac remained centered around a keyboard, trackpad and mouse.
The Apple Post first covered reports of a touchscreen, OLED display and Dynamic Island-style cutout earlier this year. The latest roadmap still points toward those changes, although the expected processors have shifted as Apple’s silicon plans evolved.
Current reporting has linked the first redesigned models to M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. That is despite Apple also preparing an entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with the newer M6 chip, creating an unusual split in the lineup.
OLED would allow Apple to improve contrast and black levels while potentially making the display assembly thinner. Omdia expects 14.3-inch and 16.3-inch OLED panels for the new machines.
The redesign may also create a new tier rather than immediately replacing every MacBook Pro. Research suggests Apple could continue selling mini-LED MacBook Pro models until at least 2028.
That has added fuel to reports of a “MacBook Ultra” name. Omdia has even suggested an M5 Ultra configuration, although that particular claim deserves caution: Apple has never shipped an Ultra chip in a notebook, and Bloomberg’s reporting has focused on M5 Pro and M5 Max.
Whether the redesigned MacBook makes October or slips into early 2027 remains one of the bigger questions around Apple’s fall roadmap. If it is ready, it would give Apple a natural headline product for a possible October presentation.