Apple finally unveiled the long‑awaited redesign of its MacBook Pro, turning it into what the company calls the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR. The new laptop features a slimmer chassis, thinner bezels and, for the first time, an OLED touchscreen. The 14‑inch version starts at $2,899, while the larger 16‑inch model begins at $3,399, making them the priciest MacBook Pros at launch.
Both sizes are powered by Apple’s latest M5 Pro or M5 Max processors, the same chips used in the current non‑touch models. The rear Apple logo now lights up, echoing older designs, and a Dynamic Island surrounds the webcam. Apple says the 14‑inch model weighs only three pounds, a noticeable drop from the existing 3.4‑pound version. The 16‑inch touchscreen version comes in at four pounds, compared with the 4.7‑ to 4.8‑pound weight of the current non‑touch 16‑inch MacBook Pro.
The PROLED XDR display can reach up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness and boasts a contrast ratio of 10,000,000 to 1, according to Apple. It also supports a 120 Hz refresh rate, matching the current lineup. Because of the reduced bezels, the screens are slightly larger at 14.2 inches and 16.3 inches respectively.
Despite the new features, the overall look remains familiar, and the port selection stays robust with three Thunderbolt 5 USB‑C ports, MagSafe, HDMI, a headphone jack and an SDXC card slot.
The touchscreen is intended to make scrolling through articles and other content more intuitive, a capability Windows laptops have offered for years. In Apple’s demo video, users swipe through media and manipulate 3D objects, and iOS apps appear to function just as they do on an iPhone, which could be valuable for developers. Apple says its own apps are optimized for touch, and macOS will interpret touch gestures as clicks, allowing third‑party creative tools such as Notion, Canva, PowerPoint and Blender to work natively on the screen.
Apple’s decision to keep macOS separate from its iOS, iPadOS and watchOS touch platforms reflects a long‑standing philosophy, unlike Microsoft’s push for touch with Windows 8. Apple’s glass trackpads already provide smooth scrolling, which may have reduced the urgency for a touchscreen.
The price ceiling is extreme: a fully loaded 16‑inch model with an M5 Max chip, 128 GB of RAM and 16 TB of storage is listed at $14,549, a configuration clearly aimed at professional users rather than average consumers. As demand for powerful local AI hardware grows, there could be a solid market for a high‑end OLED MacBook Pro.