Apple’s MacBook Professional not too long ago acquired an M4 replace, and there’s an M5 model anticipated later this 12 months. However it’s the mannequin coming late subsequent 12 months—in 2026—that sounds particularly compelling. This new MacBook Professional may even be the largest Mac improve ever. Right here’s what’s coming.
‘Complete redesign’ that’s thinner and lighter
The MacBook Professional final acquired a giant redesign in 2021. That replace restored previously-removed ports, fastened longstanding keyboard points, and was largely seen as Apple’s apology for prior missteps.
In line with a number of studies, the MacBook Professional will get its subsequent large revision in 2026. This ‘complete redesign’ will make the gadget thinner and lighter.
These phrases could ring alarm bells for MacBook Professional customers who lived by way of the butterfly keyboard period. However with Apple Silicon, Apple has to date confirmed it’s capable of make units thinner and lighter with out compromising on energy.
I’m curious to see what the port scenario is on the brand new MacBook Professional. My hope, although, is that Apple can slim the gadget down with out sacrificing any ports it not too long ago restored.
OLED show with no notch
One other key side of the MacBook Professional redesign shall be its show, which is predicted to ditch the notch as a part of a change to OLED.
The brand new show is predicted to function related OLED tech to what’s discovered within the M4 iPad Professional. And instead of the notch shall be a smaller ‘gap lower.’
Does that imply we’ll get a Dynamic Island on the Mac? We’ll have to attend and see, however OLED on the iPad Professional is improbable, so it will likely be nice to see it come to the Mac too.
M6 chip line
The M4 has been obtainable lower than a 12 months, and solely simply arrived on the Mac just a few months in the past, so there’s nothing concrete recognized in regards to the M6 but.
Nevertheless, Apple is predicted to ship an M5 MacBook Professional this 12 months with the identical fundamental design obtainable now, which suggests 2026’s large replace ought to include M6, M6 Professional, and M6 Max configurations.
5G mobile connectivity
Apple’s new in-house 5G modems are launching quickly in choose merchandise, and a second model of the modem is set to debut in 2026, with the MacBook Professional a probable recipient.
I’ve lengthy advocated for including mobile to the Mac, and recognized Apple’s in-house modems because the subsequent greatest likelihood for this to lastly occur. Per Mark Gurman, it seems like that’s what Apple is pondering too.
Wildcard: Contact assist
Contact on the Mac has been rumored on and off for so long as the iPad’s existed. It hasn’t occurred but, and maybe it by no means will.
Nevertheless, there’s stable proof that the 2026 MacBook Professional is perhaps Apple’s goal for the primary touch-enabled Mac.
Again in early 2023, Mark Gurman reported {that a} touchscreen MacBook Professional was in growth. He mentioned on the time that 2025 was the focused launch window. In the identical report, Gurman wrote:
As a part of the MacBook Professional revamp, Apple can be planning to maneuver its shows to natural light-emitting diode, or OLED know-how.
So contact and OLED had been, a minimum of at one level, deliberate to go collectively in a brand new MacBook Professional.
The projected 2025 date was additionally reportedly when Apple needed to ship OLED within the MacBook Professional, and that’s now been pushed to 2026.
It appears, then, that Apple’s plans to ship an OLED contact show within the MacBook Professional haven’t modified—simply the timing.
All of that is reiterated by a newer Gurman trace that Apple’s near-term plans for the Mac contain ‘quicker chips, thinner designs and contact screens.’
I may very well be studying the tea leaves too carefully, but it surely sounds loads to me like 2026’s large MacBook Professional redesign may lastly convey contact assist to the Mac.
MacBook Professional 2026 improve: wrap-up
We’re nonetheless a stable 12 months and a half away from when Apple is predicted to launch its large MacBook Professional redesign. Consequently, most of the above particulars may change.
That mentioned, let’s assume Apple is ready to ship all of those new options in a strong, redesigned MacBook Professional. That product will undoubtedly be the only greatest improve the gadget has ever seen—and maybe the very best Mac improve ever.
Do you anticipate to see these MacBook Professional adjustments occur subsequent 12 months? Why or why not? Tell us within the feedback.
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