After years of saying “no” to touchscreens and keeping the notch alive, Apple is finally preparing to rewrite its own design philosophy. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is developing a new MacBook Pro with an OLED display, a touch screen, and a punch-hole camera, marking a historic shift that could arrive as early as late 2026 or the first quarter of 2027.
From Reluctance to Reinvention
For more than a decade, Apple has resisted the idea of merging the Mac and touch input. Steve Jobs once dismissed touchscreens on laptops, saying, “Touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical.” But times and technologies change. With the iPad Pro now doubling as a high-performance workstation, the line between Mac and tablet has blurred beyond recognition.
Now, it seems Apple is finally ready to embrace the inevitable. The upcoming OLED MacBook Pro won’t just feature a stunning new display; it’ll also introduce touch functionality, a thinner and lighter body, and the long-awaited removal of the notch. Instead, users will get a sleek hole-punch camera design, similar to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island.
The OLED Leap
Apple already uses OLED panels in its iPhone and iPad Pro M4, but the jump to MacBook is a much bigger deal. The new display technology, reportedly based on Apple’s Ultra Retina XDR “Tandem OLED” system, stacks two OLED layers to achieve higher brightness and deeper contrast than typical panels.
OLED eliminates the need for backlighting altogether. Each pixel produces its own light, meaning perfect blacks, infinite contrast, and vibrant color reproduction that mini-LED can’t match. For anyone editing photos, watching HDR content, or simply craving that next-level sharpness, this upgrade could be transformative.
It also signals a significant break from the MacBook’s long-running design stagnation. The last true redesign came in 2021 with the M1 Pro and M1 Max models. Since then, each refresh, while powerful, has kept the same look and feel. With the OLED generation, that’s about to change.
The Waiting Game: M5 First, OLED Later
Apple just released its M5-powered MacBook Pro, but that’s only a warm-up act. The OLED models will be tied to the M6 chip, which Apple isn’t expected to launch until late 2026 or early 2027. In the meantime, the current lineup will continue to evolve incrementally, with M5 Pro and M5 Max versions expected early next year.
So, if you’ve been waiting for Apple’s next big leap, you’ll need a little patience. The OLED era is coming, but it won’t ride in on the M5 wave.
Touch Comes to the Mac (At Last)
Perhaps the most controversial part of this story is touch input. Apple’s long-standing stance has been that MacBooks don’t need touchscreens because macOS and iPadOS serve different purposes. Yet, as hybrid work and creative workflows evolve, that wall is crumbling.
The upcoming MacBook Pro models will reportedly keep the traditional keyboard and trackpad intact, making touch an optional feature rather than a replacement. Apple is said to be reinforcing the hinge and frame to support direct interaction with the screen, so no wobbling displays or fragile lids.
This could finally open the door for more intuitive multitasking, especially for creatives who use tools like Logic Pro, Final Cut, or even Apple’s new AI-driven design apps. And for everyone else? It means zooming, scrolling, and sketching just got a lot more natural.
Testing the Waters Before Diving In
Apple isn’t about to touch-ify its entire Mac lineup overnight. Gurman reports that the company wants to test user reactions with the MacBook Pro first. If it succeeds, expect touch functionality to spread to the MacBook Air or even future iMac models, but likely at a premium.
And that premium could be steep. The current MacBook Pro lineup starts at $1,999 for the 14-inch model and $2,499 for the 16-inch model. The OLED and touch combo might push prices even higher, though the leap could be justified by its long-overdue modernization.
The Road Ahead
In the coming months, Apple will release new MacBook Airs with M5 chips, updated Mac Studio and Mac Mini systems, and two new external displays. But the real milestone, the one that could redefine what a MacBook feels like, will arrive later.
The year 2027 may be the one when Apple finally crosses its own red line, blending the tactile world of the iPad with the professional power of the MacBook Pro. Goodbye, notch. Hello, OLED. Hello, touch.
