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Apple Planning 'MacBook Ultra' With Touchscreen and Higher Price

Hopefully, the lack of mention of cellular means it might come to a future non-touch MacBook Pro and not just to the touch MacBook Ultra…
 
Although I do want the tandem OLED like the iPad Pro has in a MBP. And prefer it has cellular too. And thinner. And an M6 Ultra with 1TB unified memory. AI centers are probably pricing Apple out of that if they can’t even sell 512GB memory now.
 
anthony13 said:
Yea this is what I’ve been thinking all along. It’s a new product line and potentially it won’t even be a power user product at first. I could see this releasing this year with a base M6.

Also, The Mac book pro is already tipping over 5k for high end models. We don’t need a 7k laptop.
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Hmm.. it’s already $7K. 16” MBP maxed out with all hardware upgrades is $7199 (plus tax).
 
I like everything about this except the names.
I think I'm just going to call them Macbook 1, 2, 3 and 4.
 
I hope the MBN isn’t the the extent of the MBP redesign because it basically looks the same with slightly more rounded corners. A touchscreen Mac should use the 2-1 convertible style, and it could be named the MacPad.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
The "tactics" come for every product eventually.
Nothing will be exempt from getting "Cooked".
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What “tactics”? Why are we bashing Cook for improving and adding to the product line?

The entire current laptop line is better than ever. They moved on from all the issues of a few years ago - faulty butterfly keyboards, limited ports, overheating because too thin, that idiotic Touch Bar, etc. and the chips are insane(ly good) compared with anything in the PC market.

Apple do make some dumb decisions, but I really can’t see the issues here. The Neo is incredible bang for buck despite the “compromises” - it’s perfect for my wife at almost half the price of the previous entry level option. Meanwhile something even better at the high end will be welcome by me. I don’t need touch, but I can never have enough performance for some of what I do, while still wanting to be mobile, so more is better.

What “tactics” is Cook employing, other than providing more genuinely good options?
 
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I'm guessing this model will be subsidizing the ram price increases for the cheaper model... Just a bit less obviously than the $1000 display stand subsidized some of the cost from VESA buyers.
 
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Looking forward to this if true. All I want is a touchscreen MacBook either in the form of a 2-in-1 or with a screen that folds back that will run a basically untouched version of MacOS and provides full access to iOS/iPadOS applications for seamless interaction with mobile apps without the need for any screen mirroring or other trickery.

Many keep worrying about the need to completely change MacOS into something else just to add touch functionality, but I don't see the need. The UI can remain largely the same for both the OS and desktop class applications while still allowing mobile applications to run natively on the device. This isn't Windows that we are talking about here. Microsoft does not have a strong ecosystem of desktop and mobile devices with both desktop and mobile app stores, so the success or failure of Apple moving into this space isn't going to be the same. Having an Apple device that can merge the two use cases without upsetting either side of the ecosystem would provide more of an incentive to join or stick with Apple products. I am sure that the reason it has taken so long for Apple to do so is the serious consideration of what that product would be like and where to fit it in.

Some mobile apps are already available on MacOS so we are already part way there, but obviously we lack a MacOS product with the touchscreen itself. If the high end ultra approach is what it takes for them to do it without cannibalizing sales vs trying to introduce the functionality in a lower end device then so be it. Such functionality is definitely not for everyone, and that's okay because the same can be said for a lot of other products. If a touchscreen capable MacOS device is released surely more mobile app developers will make their apps available on MacOS, and more people with multiple devices can enjoy the continuity that such functionality provides.
 
surfzen21 said:
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.
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It is opened by waving the hand and saying “Siri open sesame”.

You heard it here first.
 
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muzzy996 said:
Looking forward to this if true. All I want is a touchscreen MacBook either in the form of a 2-in-1 or with a screen that folds back that will run a basically untouched version of MacOS and provides full access to iOS/iPadOS applications for seamless interaction with mobile apps without the need for any screen mirroring or other trickery.
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Best of luck with that. All Apple wants is for you to purchase and iPad and a Macbook 📈
 
MacRumors said:


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.jpg

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.

​


Article Link: Apple Planning 'MacBook Ultra' With Touchscreen and Higher Price
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If touch is only on one device, then in makes touch an afterthought. If it’s on all devices, then it ruins the traditional input workflow and interface forever.

Having the LCD keyboard strip (what was that called again) limited to a few machines meant it was never going to go anywhere. And it didn’t. And it was discontinued.
 
DavidSchaub said:
This isn't fragmentation, this is "consumer choice".

More choices and more price points are a good thing.

Whether there are any "consumers" who want to buy something more expensive than a MBP... is less clear.

Apple just knocked one line off my wishcast list, why not more? 🙂
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Interesting.

Cant imagine the name being “Quadra” (the Ultra isn’t “Duo” or Double”). “Extreme” was floating around for a while, and that’s as good as any. In any case, definitely want that chip to exist. I’d like to see it in both Mac Studio and Mac Pro.

What’s a Mac Cube (today)? There was a Cube 20 years ago, but it was lower specced than the towers.

Mac Neo? Do we really need a desktop Mac smaller and cheaper than the mini? Nice idea but I think that might be pushing it.

Your MBP 18” with Ultra in it is definitely on my wishlist.
 
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