Touchscreen MacBook Pros reiterated to launch later this year

Apple's long-rumored touchscreen MacBook Pros are reportedly set to arrive in late 2026, marking a significant shift in the company's stance on touch interfaces. According to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the tech giant will announce 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with touch capabilities, known internally as K114 and K116.

This development represents a major departure from Apple's historical position on touchscreen laptops. The company has long resisted incorporating touchscreens into its Mac lineup, with Steve Jobs famously declaring that "touch surfaces don't want to be vertical." This philosophy has guided Apple's product strategy for years, making the rumored touchscreen MacBook Pros particularly noteworthy.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the touchscreen MacBook Pro will feature distinct profiles optimized for different input methods. When the touch profile is enabled, macOS will bring additional menus and context-relevant actions surrounding the user's touch points on the screen. This adaptive interface approach suggests Apple is taking a thoughtful approach to integrating touch functionality without compromising the traditional Mac experience.

The upcoming MacBook Pros will also gain OLED displays, a feature that has been rumored for several years. OLED technology would bring significant improvements in contrast ratios, color accuracy, and power efficiency compared to the current LCD displays used in MacBooks. The transition to OLED has been gradual across Apple's product lineup, with iPhones and iPads already featuring OLED screens.

Perhaps most intriguingly, both upcoming MacBook Pros will feature Dynamic Island integration. The Dynamic Island, first introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro, is Apple's innovative way of managing notifications, alerts, and system status information in a compact, interactive format. According to the report, the Dynamic Island on the upcoming MacBook Pros will be housed in the top center of the display and will be smaller than the one on current iPhones, featuring a punch-hole cutout shape.

The inclusion of Dynamic Island on a MacBook Pro raises interesting questions about how Apple plans to utilize this feature in a laptop context. On iPhones, the Dynamic Island serves as a notification hub and provides quick access to various functions. Its implementation on a laptop with a much larger screen real estate presents unique design challenges and opportunities.

This announcement comes as Apple prepares to launch several new devices next week, including a new entry-level MacBook model (J700) and updated MacBook Pros with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. However, these won't be the only new MacBook models to launch this year, with the touchscreen variants expected to arrive in the latter half of 2026.

The touchscreen MacBook Pro represents more than just a new feature—it signals a potential philosophical shift at Apple regarding the role of touch in computing. While the company has maintained that touch belongs on iOS devices and indirect input methods like trackpads and mice are better suited for desktop computing, the touchscreen MacBook Pro suggests Apple is reconsidering this position.