MacBook Pro with OLED touch screen arriving in the fall, claims leaker — new laptops to feature Dynamic Island and revamped UI optimized for both fingers and cursors

Apple is reportedly finally releasing touchscreen MacBooks, decades after the first touchscreen Windows laptops appeared on the market. According to prominent Apple leaker Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the long-awaited feature will finally arrive this year, but during the company’s fall event and not in March, where it’s expected to announce new iPad models and an entry-level MacBook priced between $599 and $699.

Aside from getting a touch-sensitive screen, sources say that the upcoming MacBook Pros will also get an OLED display, while the controversial notch will be replaced by the Dynamic Island, first introduced in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max in 2022. The rest of the laptop will still look the same, though, ensuring that veteran MacBook Pro users will still feel comfortable even if they upgrade to the latest version. Under the hood, it is expected that Apple will debut M6 chips with the OLED models, according to previous reports.

macOS will also reportedly introduce some changes to accommodate the additional functionality delivered by the touch screen. Because fingers inherently cover a larger space than a cursor, it’s reported that the new MacBook Pro will automatically shift the interface depending on the input method. For example, if you touch the menu at the top of the screen, it will automatically enlarge to make it easier to select what you want and prevent any mispresses. A new context menu is also reportedly being developed that will appear around your finger, making access to commands and other shortcuts much more ergonomic. These changes go in line with Apple’s “it just works” philosophy, ensuring that everything would work as intended, whether you prefer using a mouse or the touch screen.

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Steve Jobs famously said in 2010 that touchscreen laptops do not work, which is probably the reason why it took so long for Apple to introduce one. In fairness, Jobs was probably right, especially with the available technology back then. But the arrival of Apple Silicon chips that grow more powerful with every generation, while still staying efficient, probably meant that implementing a UI that would smartly and seamlessly switch between cursor and touch controls.

Despite finally adding touch control to the MacBook Pro, Gurman says that it still won’t replace the iPad. In fact, it’s the iPad that’s becoming more like a MacBook, especially with the release of iPadOS 26. Whatever the case, the Apple tablet will supposedly always be touch-first, while the upcoming MacBook Pros will have a blend of touch gestures and cursor movements, allowing its users to choose whichever they like without taking away from the experience of using either input method.

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Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

8 Comments Comment from the forums

theverge

Steve Jobs famously said in 2010 that touchscreen laptops do not work
He's right, i've never seen anyone using the touch screen on their laptop. Makes no sense.
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Penzi

I’m all for choice: if people want to add it, cool. But I wouldn’t buy one that forces it on you. Pay extra for another failure point with accidental activations to frustrate me? Great… my return to the desktop fold accelerates.
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CenozoicSynapsid

They should've put mac OS on an iPad instead of this, people would actually want iPads then.
Reply
Notton

theverge said:
He's right, i've never seen anyone using the touch screen on their laptop. Makes no sense.
When I have a touchscreen laptop, I use it all the time.
but then again my laptop is always a 2-in-1 or a handheld PC.
IDK how much sense it'll make on a 16" laptop, but on <14" screen, it's just a big tablet propped up on a stand.
You can also already experience what it's like with an iPad Pro 13 with the optional keyboard cover.

Penzi said:
I’m all for choice: if people want to add it, cool. But I wouldn’t buy one that forces it on you. Pay extra for another failure point with accidental activations to frustrate me? Great… my return to the desktop fold accelerates.
I've had a touch screen laptop since back when Microsoft released the OG Surface Pro.
I've never had the touchscreen on a laptop fail. Though, I've also never dropped or squished my laptop enough to damage the screen.

What would happen most frequently was a Microsoft update would wipe the gyro sensor driver and disable auto-rotation as well as locking the screen in a certain orientation.
The second most frequent thing was a Microsoft update would overwrite the Wi-Fi driver and bork Wi-Fi/BT capabilities.
Reply
kaalus

It looks like Apple is going to shoot themselves in the foot just as they did with touch bar in 2016. Who wants a dynamic island on a laptop? So that even more screen space is wasted than with the current ugly notch?
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Gururu

Its a strange thing. My kid uses an ipad a lot but on the school chromebook with touch, never touches the screen.
Reply
call101010

I use the touch screen mostly for scrolling and zooming in when needed on my laptop. However , I think that the new Macbooks with touch screen might be convertible.
Reply
l3tr1xingame

kaalus said:
It looks like Apple is going to shoot themselves in the foot just as they did with touch bar in 2016. Who wants a dynamic island on a laptop? So that even more screen space is wasted than with the current ugly notch?
What screen space is wasted now? The only problem with the notch is not having enough space for menu options or icons.
I never had that issue since I don't have a lot of stuff open nor the apps that I use have a lot of menu options. I do use the more space display option though.
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