Apple is holding another hardware event just weeks after its last one, and this time the spotlight is on the Mac. The Apple Pro and tell event is set for October 28th at 1PM ET in Los Angeles, and the name is a not-so-subtle hint at what’s coming: a reworked MacBook Pro lineup, reportedly including the touchscreen model Apple watchers have been waiting years for. Nothing is official yet, but here’s what’s expected to show up.
A touchscreen MacBook Pro, finally
Rumors of a touchscreen, OLED MacBook Pro go back to early 2023, and it looks like they may finally pay off. This would be Apple’s first touchscreen laptop and its first OLED laptop, two firsts that have been a long time coming given how far behind the Mac has lagged the iPad and competing Windows machines on screen tech. We previously covered Apple’s October 28 event announcement as the date was first confirmed.
Despite chatter about a ‘MacBook Ultra’ name, Apple is unlikely to rebrand its flagship laptop. The new model is expected to borrow a Dynamic Island-style cutout from the iPhone and may add a few touch-specific flourishes, like a magnification effect or new gesture controls in native apps. But don’t expect macOS itself to turn into a touch-first interface or for the laptop to behave like an iPad hybrid. Apple appears to be treating touch as an addition to the existing Mac experience rather than a redesign of it. A separate report suggested the OLED MacBook Pro will be significantly lighter than the current model.
Notably, the touchscreen model is expected to stick with the existing M5 Pro and M5 Max chips rather than jumping to M6 versions. The Verge says there might not be M6 Pro or M6 Max chips at all, with Apple possibly waiting to upgrade its higher-end processors until the M7 arrives next year.
A quieter M6 update for the base MacBook Pro
The standard MacBook Pro is expected to get a more conventional refresh, moving from M5 to M6 following the chip’s debut in the Mac Mini back in August. It may also pick up a minor design tweak, including a hole-punch-style camera cutout similar to recent iPhones and iPads. The catch is that this model is also expected to cost more, as component shortages continue to ripple through Apple’s supply chain and, by extension, its pricing.
M6 comes to the iMac too
Apple’s all-in-one desktop hasn’t been updated in nearly two years, and it’s expected to skip the M5 generation entirely in favor of jumping straight to M6. Beyond the chip bump, don’t expect much to change. New color options are a possibility, following the pattern set by the M4 iMac, but a major redesign doesn’t seem to be on the table this time around.
An OLED iPad Mini
The iPad Mini has stuck with an LCD screen while the iPad Pro moved on to OLED, but that may be about to change. An OLED iPad Mini could debut alongside the Mac updates, potentially kicking off a broader shift to OLED panels across the rest of the iPad lineup over time. The upgrade is expected to come with a roughly $100 price increase, paired with a processor bump from the aging A17 chip to the A20 that debuted in the iPhone 18. Outside of the screen and chip, a dramatic redesign doesn’t appear to be in the cards.
The bottom line
Apple is holding this event just weeks after its last one, and the fact that it’s dedicating one specifically to the Mac signals the company sees the touchscreen MacBook Pro as a meaningful release rather than a routine spec bump. If the rumors hold up, buyers will have a lot to weigh on October 28th: a premium touchscreen model built around new display tech, a cheaper but pricier-than-before base MacBook Pro, a modest iMac refresh, and the Mini’s long-awaited move to OLED. As always with pre-event roundups, treat the specifics as educated guesses until Apple actually takes the stage.
Source: The Verge
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