Apple unveiled its first touchscreen Mac on 28 October 2026, ending years in which the company kept touch input on the iPhone and iPad while the Mac stayed a keyboard-and-trackpad machine. The new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, shown at Apple’s “Pro and tell” event in Los Angeles, comes in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, starts at $2,899 and $3,399 respectively, opens for pre-order immediately, and reaches stores on 6 November.
Touch comes to the Mac
The headline change is a touch sensor built directly into the display panel, rather than layered on top of it. Apple says that avoids added latency, so touch feels responsive. Users can scroll with a swipe, pinch to zoom, drag and drop slides, and double-tap a window to fill the screen.
Apple positions touch as an addition, not a replacement. The keyboard and trackpad remain fully supported, and macOS translates touches into clicks so many existing apps work right away. Apple lists Canva, Zoom, Word, PowerPoint, Lightroom, DaVinci Resolve and Blender as already compatible.
A redesigned hinge adds stability when the screen is being touched, and software-based video stabilisation smooths the camera feed on video calls when tapping the display moves the machine. The notch is gone, replaced by a smaller Dynamic Island that houses Spotlight, Live Activities and Siri AI, in the same style as the iPhone’s cutout.
A brighter, sharper display
The screen is a tandem OLED panel Apple calls PROLED XDR, rated at up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness, with a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a 10Hz to 120Hz refresh rate. It covers P3 and Adobe RGB, with an optional nano-texture finish that cuts glare.
Inside, the machines run on M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with up to 128GB of memory and storage up to 16TB. The 14-inch model weighs three pounds and the 16-inch four pounds, both thinner than before, with up to 24 hours of battery life claimed. Ports include three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, SDXC, MagSafe and a headphone jack.
The new line sits above, rather than replacing, the existing MacBook Pro range. The mini-LED models stay on sale, and the PROLED machine is a distinct, higher-priced tier. That distinction matters this week, because Apple announced a separate machine a day earlier. Apple’s M6 MacBook Pro and iMac launch covers a different 14-inch model with an M6 chip.
Why It Matters
For Apple, this is a reversal of a long-held design position, and Apple reversals tend to move the whole laptop market. Windows laptops have offered touchscreens for years, and creative professionals long asked why the Mac did not. By adding touch to its most expensive laptop first, Apple tests it where buyers will pay most.
For buyers, the practical question is narrower. The PROLED models cost $400 more than equivalent mini-LED machines, according to early pricing comparisons, so the upgrade buys a brighter screen, touch and less weight, not faster chips. Buyers wanting speed or memory will find the same M5 chips in the cheaper line.
Software will decide whether touch becomes a habit or a novelty. If developers build touch-first tools for design, music and video, the Mac gains a new input method. If not, touch risks becoming an occasional convenience for scrolling and zooming. Apple’s pitch, centred on 3D models and onscreen instruments, shows its strongest cases.
The launch also folds into Apple’s wider AI push. The new machines ship with macOS 27, which Apple says brings Apple Intelligence and Siri AI to the desktop, with the Dynamic Island putting assistants a tap away. Apple’s creative-app AI assistants show how those tools already reach its professional buyers.
Open questions remain. Apple has not said whether touch will spread to the MacBook Air or cheaper Pro models, and top configurations climb steeply once memory and storage are added. Early buyers will test whether a laptop screen touched all day stays clean, stable and comfortable.
Background
Apple’s MacBook Pro last received a major redesign in 2021, and the company has spent the intervening years building its own silicon line while keeping the Mac’s input model unchanged.
Source: Apple announcement and MacRumors report
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