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Apple Planning 'MacBook Ultra' With Touchscreen and Higher Price

Apple is planning to launch an all-new "MacBook Ultra" model this year, featuring an OLED display, touchscreen, and a higher price point, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.

Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero
Gurman revealed the information in his latest "Power On" newsletter. While Apple has been widely expected to launch new M6-series MacBook Pro models with OLED displays, touchscreen functionality, and a new, thinner design in the fourth quarter of 2026 for some time, Gurman today turned that rumor on its head with the suggestion that this is an all-new kind of MacBook rather than a ‌MacBook Pro‌.

Instead of succeeding the newly announced M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, the "MacBook Ultra" will be a new, top-tier Apple laptop. Gurman added that the device is likely to sit above the current M5 MacBook Pros, rather than replace them, suggesting that they will remain on sale.

This would enable a markedly higher price point for the new machines. Gurman noted that when Apple brought OLED displays to the iPhone X in 2017 and the iPad Pro in 2024, it simultaneously raised price by around 20%. As a result, Gurman believes a similar price increase on account of the MacBook's first ever OLED display may be likely and help move the ‌MacBook Pro‌ further upmarket.

Gurman says that this fits into a broader trend at Apple, where the company is seeking to offer more models at more price points, such as the new MacBook Neo at an unprecedented $599 price point to rival low-cost Windows and Chromebook devices. The same is occurring at the high-end, with more premium options available than ever before.

That is set to continue this year with the first foldable iPhone, featuring a ~$2,000 price tag, large inner display, and under-display sensors, and new AirPods priced above the current AirPods Pro at the top of the lineup with computer-vision cameras to feed Visual Intelligence data to Siri. Gurman even suggested that these products may be called the "iPhone Ultra" and "AirPods Ultra."

While the name "MacBook Ultra" is uncertain, Gurman is clearly no longer referring to the device as a ‌MacBook Pro‌, instead referring to it as "the touch-screen and OLED high-end MacBook." He cautioned that Apple "could keep the traditional ‌MacBook Pro‌ name," but a MacBook Ultra moniker would "more clearly signal their position at the top of the lineup." Gurman expects the device to launch around the end of the year.

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Top Rated Comments

surfzen21 Avatar
3 weeks ago
I hate the fact that my thumb slightly touches the screen when I open my current laptop.

No way I want to put even more smudges on a screen. This seems like it would benefit greatly from nano texture glass.
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vegetassj4 Avatar
3 weeks ago
Ultra Smultra, studio is where it's at!



Attachment Image
Score: 47 Votes (Like | Disagree)
3 weeks ago
This makes more sense than the M5 MacBook Pro becoming obsolete 6 months after its release.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antonrg Avatar
3 weeks ago
Timmy continuing to fragment any lineup he can. As long as they don't make the Pro line worse, it's fine.
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
3 weeks ago
A new macbook. With touch. It has to use a name with three letters (Neo, Air, Pro). What is the first thing humans touch? Their mothers breast.

This is it. The Macbook Tit.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
darkphoenix24 Avatar
3 weeks ago
I think I see where this is going.

Back in 2012, Apple had spec updates to their MacBook Pro lineup in both 13 and 15 inch models. Simultaneously, they also released a new 15” Retina MacBook Pro, at a higher price point.

Then a year later, the 13” got the Retina display. After that, the non retina models were phased out.

The 2016 and 2021 models were redesigns and not an entirely new model, which this might be with both OLED and a touch screen. So they might have this be the highest end for a year or two and then slowly phase out the 2021 design, which would still be sold refurbished.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)