"It's ergonomically terrible." That's what Steve Jobs said about touchscreen MacBooks in 2010. A lot has changed with Apple's laptops since that statement was made. The optical drives were removed, the OS name changed from Mac OS X to macOS, and SSDs became standard in all MacBooks. Now, we're about to witness another major shift as Apple is reportedly going to release its first touchscreen-equipped Mac, the M6 MacBook Pro, later this year.
Dynamic Island on Macbook
For over a year, we have been hearing that Apple is working on a touchscreen MacBook. Mark Gurman, a popular tech journalist, has given fresh details about this upcoming device in his latest scoop. The report says that the M6 MacBook Pro will use an OLED display and feature the Dynamic Island, which was first introduced in the iPhone 14 Pro models and then became standard in all later-released iPhones.
It'll reportedly replace the notch that you find in current MacBooks and expand if needed, depending on the app or feature you are using. It would likely display the Now Playing details from Apple Music, live scores from Apple Sports, precipitation forecasts from apps like Carrot Weather, and other information. In essence, it could offer a similar experience to what it delivers on an iPhone.
Better macOS controls
MacBook Pro in two different colors. | Image by Apple
With the introduction of touch screen power to the MacBook, Apple would definitely not want it to compete against one of its other products, the iPad. That's why it will also come with a keyboard and trackpad like other MacBooks, and it will be totally up to you how much or how little you want to use the touch screen capability.
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Gurman's sources say that the OS will also be optimized to make it more touch-friendly. For instance, if you tap on a menu bar option, a larger set of controls will be displayed that will be especially designed to be managed through touch. The new MacBook Pro would also come with some iPadOS and iOS features like fast scrolling and the ability to zoom in and out using pinch gestures. The emoji picker would also be made touch-friendly.
In addition to adding an OLED display and Dynamic Island, the tech giant is also expected to slim down the chassis of the upcoming Mac. The overall design, however, will be very much similar to how the current MacBook Pro appears.
What do you think about adding Dynamic Island to MacBooks?
It's coming at the end of this year
Windows laptops and MacBooks have neck-to-neck competition in almost every department. In fact, I believe that Apple's custom chips allow its laptops to offer far superior performance and battery life than Windows devices. However, touchscreen ability was one area in which Microsoft had an upper hand over Apple laptops.
Fortunately, the landscape is going to change soon, as Apple is now going to have its own touchscreen MacBooks. I'm eager to know whether the company will have to make any compromises in departments like battery life and thermals to bring touchscreen capability. I'm pretty confident that more details regarding this will be shared soon, most likely by Gurman himself.
That said, the report mentions that the M6 MacBook Pro, which would likely be available in both 14- and 16-inch models, would go live sometime at the end of 2026. In spring, the Cupertino Giant is expected to launch a MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro and M5 Max chip. This basically means we would see two MacBook Pro updates this year: one in spring, which would bring the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and another towards the end of the year, which would be the OLED variant that would bring touch screen capability and the Dynamic Island.
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Aman Kumar is a tech news writer with a long-standing passion for smartphones. Aman specializes in everything smartphones, from AI features like Pixel’s Camera Coach to understanding ideal hardware combinations. He loves breaking down complex features in a simple, clear way and hopes manufacturers bring back bold designs like the Nokia N-Gage. When he’s not writing, he’s either gaming on PUBG or talking fitness as a dedicated gym enthusiast.
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