Apple plans to launch a touchscreen version of the Mac computer and remove the "notch" design.

On October 17th, according to the latest news from technology journalist Mark Gurman, Apple plans to launch its first Mac computer with a touchscreen - a redesigned MacBook Pro, which is expected to be released in late 2026 or early 2027.

People familiar with the matter said that the codenames of these new models are K114 and K116. Not only will they be thinner and lighter, but they will also be equipped with M6 series chips. Due to the use of more expensive components, the prices of the new 14 - inch and 16 - inch MacBook Pros may be a few hundred dollars more expensive than the current versions. Currently, the starting price of the high - end MacBook Pro without touchscreen functionality is $1999 for the 14 - inch model and $2499 for the 16 - inch model.

In terms of appearance, Apple will cancel the "notch screen" design at the top of the current models and replace it with a "punched - hole screen" solution, allowing the area around the camera to also display images.

In addition, to solve the common problem of "screen shaking" on touchscreens, Apple has redesigned the reinforced hinge and screen structure to ensure that the panel will not rebound or shift when pressed by fingers.

People familiar with the matter emphasized that currently, Apple is not actively developing more touch - enabled Mac models. The company will first observe the market's feedback on the touch - enabled MacBook Pro. This is in line with Apple's consistent product strategy of testing new features on high - end models first and then expanding downwards.

For years, Apple has been hesitant about equipping Mac computers with touchscreens. The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs said as early as 2010 that "touch interfaces are not suitable for vertical operation", implying that this kind of interaction is not suitable for computer screens. Current CEO Tim Cook also once ridiculed the combination of tablets and laptops as "putting a toaster and a refrigerator together". Apple also tried to launch the Touch Bar in 2016 as a replacement for the traditional function key row, but it was not widely accepted and has been removed from the products in recent years.

Apple was once worried internally that touch - enabled Macs would cannibalize iPad sales. However, in recent years, the growth of iPads has flattened, while touchscreens have gradually become a standard feature of PCs. In addition, by unifying the operating interfaces, processors, and application ecosystems of iPads and Macs, Apple has gradually narrowed the gap between the two. The iPad Magic Keyboard launched in 2020 further proves that users welcome the mixed operation mode of touch, keyboard, and trackpad.

In fact, there have been previous reports in the market that Macs will add touchscreens. Well - known analyst Ming - Chi Kuo said that the OLED version of the MacBook Pro to be launched at the end of 2026 will be equipped with a touch panel for the first time, which means that the boundary between Macs and iPads will become even more blurred. Judging from Apple's patent applications and internal observations, Apple has never truly given up on this direction.

On the evening of October 15th, Apple officially released its latest M5 chip and simultaneously launched a new 14 - inch MacBook Pro equipped with this chip. The new MacBook Pro has a significant performance improvement. Its AI computing power has increased by 3.5 times compared to the previous generation, the graphics processing speed has increased by 1.6 times, and the battery life has been extended to 24 hours.

Apple's M5 chip is the company's new - generation Apple Silicon chip, built on the third - generation 3 - nanometer process. In addition to being equipped in the MacBook Pro, it is also available in the latest iPad Pro and Apple Vision Pro.

The M5 chip can be configured with up to a 10 - core CPU, including 6 energy - efficient cores and up to 4 performance cores. Through architecture optimization, its multi - thread performance can be improved by up to 15% compared to the M4, providing stronger computing support for professional applications. Its unified memory bandwidth has been increased to 153GB/s, nearly 30% higher than the M4 chip and more than twice that of the M1 chip, and it supports up to 32GB of unified memory.

In the highly competitive computer market, Apple may hope to attract more consumers by launching Mac computers with touchscreens and further enhance the market competitiveness of Mac computers.

The Q3 2025 PC market report released by IDC shows that the total global shipments of traditional PCs in that quarter reached 75.9 million units. Apple's shipments were 6.8 million units, with a market share of 9.0%, a year - on - year increase of 13.7%, ranking fourth. Lenovo ranked first with shipments of 19.4 million units and a market share of 25.5%; HP ranked second with shipments of 15 million units and a market share of 19.8%; and Dell ranked third with shipments of 10.1 million units and a market share of 13.3%.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Jiemian News", author: Song Jianan. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.