The touchscreen Mac that both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook disliked may be developed by Apple.

If you're planning to buy a new MacBook Pro, you might want to wait a bit longer.

Compared to the M5 MacBook Pro, which has hardly changed except for the chip since its recent release, Apple's real ace up its sleeve might be coming next year...

This will be the most significant design and feature adjustment in the Mac product line, and perhaps in the entire history of Apple computers. It not only goes against Steve Jobs' "legacy" but also contradicts Tim Cook's stance.

In a nutshell: Next year's MacBook Pro will be equipped with a touchscreen.

The Newly Designed MacBook Pro

Since the M1 Pro, the current mold of the MacBook Pro has been used for five generations, and overall, it has received more praise than criticism. The more rounded body and diverse ports emphasize practicality and tool functionality. Coupled with the powerful performance and excellent energy efficiency of the M-series chips, the MacBook Pro in recent years has received far more positive reviews than its predecessors in the Intel architecture era.

According to Bloomberg's report, the new MacBook Pro will feature a brand - new design. A notable feature is that the body will be thinner and lighter than the current model.

For years, Apple has been trying to create a "thin, light, and powerful" MacBook Pro. The 2016 redesign (which removed ports like MagSafe and replaced them with Type - C) was aimed at this goal. Unfortunately, in the following five years, Apple was held back by Intel processors with poor performance and high heat generation.

Fortunately, in 2021, Apple used the M - series chips and a new body/port design to repair the MacBook Pro's reputation in a timely manner. However, the thickness and weight of the product are still not what Apple desires. Take the 16 - inch MacBook Pro as an example; it weighs 2.14 kilograms, which is similar to most high - performance laptops on the market.

If it can be made more portable, the MacBook Pro will undoubtedly have an advantage over the PC camp beyond just battery life.

In fact, with the current advanced chip manufacturing process, making high - performance laptops lighter and thinner is not just Apple's pursuit. In the past two years, we've seen some Windows high - performance laptops moving towards "slimming down" to create some differentiation.

Making the MacBook Pro thinner not only requires higher engineering skills for the body but also means Apple will make changes to the A and B surfaces. If you observe carefully, you'll find that both the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air have relatively thick A and B surfaces.

Therefore, the OLED screen on the new MacBook Pro will not only provide a deeper display effect than LCD but also significantly reduce its thickness.

Mark Gurman revealed that the OLED screen of the MacBook Pro will be comparable to that of the iPad Pro, which means the MacBook Pro is very likely to adopt the double - layer OLED technology as well, with better brightness and energy consumption performance.

According to analyst Ming - Chi Kuo, the MacBook Pro will use an on - cell touch screen instead of the fully laminated "in - cell" type.

As for the screen notch issue that everyone is concerned about, the good news is that the notch is gone. But the bad news is that it's replaced with a "pill - shaped hole punch" similar to that on the iPhone...

Conceptual image of the hole - punched MacBook Pro

Since macOS 26 can synchronize real - time activity cards from the iPhone, it seems that the new hole - punched MacBook Pro can also use the "Dynamic Island".

The new design is definitely worth looking forward to, but the real game - changer is the "touch - enabled Mac".

Bloomberg reported that Apple is internally developing enhanced hinges and screen hardware to prevent abnormal bouncing or movement when users touch the laptop screen, which is a common pain point for touchscreen laptops and 2 - in - 1 computers.

Due to the higher overall component costs, the new MacBook Pro will be priced a few hundred dollars higher than the current model.

As usual, the new design of the MacBook Pro will also be introduced to the MacBook Air later. It is currently expected that the first MacBook Air with an OLED screen will be launched in 2028.

MacBook Pro or iPad Pro?

For a long time, Apple has not been very enthusiastic about the concept of "touch - enabled computers" internally.

Steve Jobs believed that the interaction of using fingers to touch a vertical laptop screen was not ergonomic. And Tim Cook, who may step down as CEO soon, has also publicly stated that the idea of combining a tablet and a laptop is like "combining a toaster and a refrigerator".

In 2017, when Cook attended the China Development Forum, he was presented with a "toaster + refrigerator" device.

There is also a problem that cannot be ignored: The screens of MacBook products are known for their high quality but are also notoriously scratch - prone. Directly touching the screen with hands can easily damage the coating. Even for current MacBooks, screen abrasion is a common problem.

However, in the entire laptop market, most products with a similar positioning to the MacBook are equipped with touchscreens. Consumers are increasingly calling for the MacBook to support touch functionality.

The Huawei MateBook 14 supports its own M - Pencil stylus.

Although touch interaction is far less convenient than using a keyboard and mouse for typical computer users, for the younger generation who have grown up with smartphones and tablets, it doesn't seem unreasonable for a powerful laptop to support finger - based touch interaction.

Besides the more "product - philosophical" reasons such as ergonomics and interaction, Mark Gurman, an Apple expert from Bloomberg, speculates that there is a more commercial reason why Apple has been hesitant to add a touchscreen to the MacBook: the fear of affecting iPad sales.

However, adding a trackpad and keyboard to the iPad cannot replace a MacBook. By the same logic, a MacBook with a touchscreen should only be an added bonus. Users will still use the keyboard and trackpad below the screen 90% of the time, so it won't compete with the iPad.

Image source: Tom's Guide

According to Ming - Chi Kuo's report, the reason for Apple to add a touchscreen to the MacBook is that "it will be more useful for users in some scenarios", such as precisely zooming in on or rotating image materials and adjusting video progress bars. It also provides the possibility to support the Apple Pencil.

It's foreseeable that Apple won't simply insert a touchscreen into the MacBook. Future macOS will also make corresponding changes to enable the entire system's interaction to be compatible with finger - based interaction.

This brings us to the Touch Bar. Although it wasn't very successful, it shows that Apple has long had ideas about innovative touch interaction for the Mac.

The "Mac - like" transformation of iPadOS 26 can also be seen as an exploration of interaction and features for the future touch - enabled Mac. The Mac can already run iPad apps, and the differences between the two are gradually decreasing.

iPadOS becoming more and more like Mac. Image source: Apple Insider

In fact, compared to the underperforming iPad, the Mac has taken off with the M - series chips in recent years. According to IDC, a statistical agency, the Mac shipped 6.2 million units in the second quarter of this year, a significant increase of 21.4% compared to the same period last year, far exceeding PC manufacturers. According to StatCounter, the global market share of the Mac has also risen to 15%.

Although IDC data shows that the iPad's shipment volume last quarter was twice that of the Mac, the main contributors were the entry - level iPads with A - series chips. Mark Gurman said that the sales of the iPad Pro, which Apple has been promoting in recent years, have not been very impressive.

The M - series chips have become a unique advantage for Apple's Mac products, but they also come with huge costs. Each generation of M - series chips costs hundreds of millions of dollars in R & D, and they can only maintain a lead for a year or two. The manufacturing cost of the chips cannot be ignored either. The cost of an M1 chip is about $50, and it doubles with each upgrade. The M1 Ultra costs as much as $500.

To spread the costs, Apple has introduced these M - series chips to more product lines: Mac, iPad, and even the Vision Pro. Among these, only the Mac's shipment volume is still expanding rapidly, and developing new designs and features for it will yield a higher return on investment.

The deeper reason is that with the changes in user interaction and usage scenarios, it may no longer make much sense to strictly distinguish between the Mac and the iPad.

The thinner and lighter body of the rumored M6 MacBook Pro also implies the possibility of the two converging. It won't be like ten years ago, sacrificing performance and reliability for the sake of thinness. Instead, it will be tailored to the capabilities of the M6 chip, achieving a balance between thinness and performance.

The enhanced portability it offers will create new value that simply piling on performance cannot achieve. This is actually what Apple has always expected from the iPad Pro.

In the future, the interfaces, applications, and even the forms of the two will become more and more similar, just like "convergent evolution" in biology - two different species eventually changing in the same direction.

For example, some crustaceans that were not originally crabs have become more and more like crabs due to long - term survival in a specific environment. This phenomenon of convergent evolution is called "crabification", and crabs are even jokingly referred to as the "end of biological evolution".

When tablets were first introduced, they were originally "phablets" (large - screen phones). Now, manufacturers are turning them into "laptops", with touchscreens and keyboards that can be flipped 360 degrees.

The "2 - in - 1 PC and tablet" products seem to have become the "crabs" that everyone is pursuing. Even though most users still use tablets as large - screen phones and laptops mainly with a keyboard and mouse.

The Microsoft Surface, one of the pioneers of 2 - in - 1 devices

The intersection of the iPad and the MacBook may come earlier than we think. Ross Young, a well - known Apple supply - chain analyst, revealed that Apple is developing not only the iPhone Fold but also an 18 - inch foldable device.

However, the latest news from Bloomberg shows that Apple is facing obstacles in the development of this device, dealing with engineering challenges such as weight, functionality, and display technology. The release date is expected to be postponed to 2029 or later.