What Apple is showing
After this month's move to test demand for a foldable iPhone priced at $2,000 and up, Apple is teeing up another premium push: touch-screen laptops. The company plans to debut high-end 14 inch and 16 inch MacBook Pros at a Wednesday presentation in Los Angeles that starts at 10 a.m. local time.
These Macs add OLED XDR touch screens and a Dynamic Island - firsts for the Mac - and sit above the current lineup rather than replacing it. Apple is aiming the machines at content creators, influencers and media-editing pros. Apple plans to begin taking advance purchases for the new models on Wednesday, and the touch versions could hit shelves as early as Nov. 6. An Apple representative from Cupertino, California, declined to comment.
Pricing and how it stacks up
According to a person familiar with the matter, Apple has floated a $2,899 entry price for the 14 inch model that includes an M5 Pro chip. That figure is $400 higher than the current M5 Pro 14 inch, which launched in March and saw a price increase in June.
Today's 16 inch MacBook Pro without touch starts at $2,999, pointing to at least $3,399 for the touch-equipped 16 inch. The larger machine could carry an even bigger premium than the 14 inch. If the 14 inch lands at $2,899, it would mark the highest opening price for a new MacBook Pro, topping the $2,799 17 inch from 2006, and would place Apple among the priciest touch-laptop makers alongside premium OLED models from Dell Technologies Inc. Apple intends to keep the non-touch versions on sale next to the new machines.
Design, software and engineering choices
The refreshed models keep the overall look but trim the bezels, get a bit thinner and feel noticeably lighter. Apple redesigned the hinge so the screen stays steady when tapped and reworked the cooling system to cut weight while pushing more air through the hinge.
To make touch practical on macOS, Apple tweaked the Golden Gate release so circular, dial-style controls pop up around a user's finger, while still centering the keyboard and trackpad as the main inputs. The initial wave of touch-screen MacBook Pros will rely on processors that were introduced earlier this year.
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Roughly four years back, former Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook approved moving forward on the project once touch had risen to one of the most-requested features. A person privy to the call put it this way: "He said we should just do it." The effort was steered by John Ternus - Cook's successor as CEO and formerly Apple's hardware chief - who worked with software teams and signaled internally that touch had become table stakes for laptops, an area where he believed Apple had fallen behind.
Roadmap and what is next
In January 2023, Bloomberg News was the first to report that Apple planned to bring touch to the MacBook Pro and later laid out the displays, software, processors and design. On Wednesday, Apple also intends to open preorders for a new iPad mini, a 14 inch MacBook Pro with an M6 chip and a refreshed iMac introduced earlier this week, with the touch-screen MacBook Pros potentially on sale by Nov. 6 to align with those products.
Looking ahead, Apple is preparing refreshed MacBook Pros slated for next fall that use M7 Pro and M7 Max chips, plus a lower-end M7 MacBook Pro adopting the new design next year. Plans call for fresh MacBook Air and MacBook Neo models in 2027, with a Mac Studio carrying an M7 Ultra to follow in 2028. Separately, the HomeView smart-home device and a new Apple TV box are scheduled to hit the market on Nov. 13.
The bottom line for your portfolio
Apple is layering touch and new display tech onto top-tier MacBook Pros while keeping non-touch models in market, effectively widening the price ladder. If $2,899 anchors the 14 inch and the 16 inch clears $3,399, average selling prices move up - a useful data point for tracking Mac revenue and mix as Apple is set to open preorders Wednesday and early sales land in November.
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