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OLED MacBook Pro May Not Launch Next Year After All

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Apple in October 2024 overhauled its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display changes, and more. That's quite a lot of updates in one go, but there is another major refresh coming to the MacBook Pro – although when it will arrive has now been thrown into doubt.

M6-MacBook-Pro-Feature-1.jpg

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is rethinking its original plan to minimally refresh the MacBook Pro lineup with M5 chips later this year. Instead, the refreshed M5 models, offering only a small performance boost, are now expected to arrive in the first half of 2026.

Gurman previously suggested that a more substantial redesign or "true overhaul" was scheduled for 2026. But now that the M5 refresh itself appears to be delayed until 2026, the chances of a major redesign landing in the same year seem less likely. Gurman has so far kept quiet on whether the redesigned MacBook Pro timeline has shifted as well.

To recap, here are the biggest changes rumored to be coming to the overhauled MacBook Pro, following the M5 refresh early next year.

OLED Display
Goodbye, mini-LED
Several rumors have indicated that Apple is developing MacBook Pro models with OLED displays. Research firm Omdia in May 2024 claimed Apple is "highly likely" to introduce new MacBook Pros featuring OLED displays next year, while display analyst Ross Young in September 2024 said that Apple's supply chain is expected to have sufficient notebook-optimized OLED display production capacity in 2026 to bring the technology to MacBook Pro. Compared to current MacBook Pro models that use mini-LED screens, the benefits of OLED technology would include increased brightness, higher contrast ratio with deeper blacks, improved power efficiency for longer battery life, and more.

Thinner, Lighter Laptop
Major Redesign
The switch to OLED displays could allow future MacBook Pro models to have a thinner design, and rumors suggest that is indeed what Apple intends. When the M4 iPad Pro was unveiled in May 2024, Apple touted it as the company's thinnest product ever. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman subsequently called the iPad Pro the "beginning of a new class of Apple devices," and said Apple was working to make the MacBook Pro thinner over the "next couple of years." Apple is reportedly focusing on delivering the thinnest possible device without compromising on battery life or major new features.

Notably, the MacBook Pro got thicker and heavier with its most recent redesign in 2021. A major highlight was the reintroduction of several ports that were removed in previous iterations in favor of chassis thinness. How Apple will make its redesigned MacBook Pro thinner without removing the functionality it reintroduced fairly recently is the big question.

Punch-Hole Camera
No More Notch
If you are fed up of the notch intruding on your Mac display, here's some good news. Apple plans to remove the notch from the redesigned MacBook Pro, according to a roadmap shared by research firm Omdia. The roadmap indicates that redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will have a hole-punch camera at the top of the display, rather than the notch we've become accustomed to. A MacBook Pro without a notch would offer additional visible pixels on the screen, creating a more uninterrupted and cohesive display design.

5G Modem
Cellular Connectivity
In 2025, Apple introduced the C1 modem, its custom-built 5G chip that it's had in the works for years now. The modem chip features in the iPhone 16e and is said to be coming in the iPhone 17 "Air," giving Apple an opportunity to test the technology before rolling it out to flagship devices. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will then consider bringing cellular connectivity to the Mac lineup for the first time. The company is said to be "investigating" the possibility of adding a second-generation C2 modem chip to a future Mac as soon as 2026, teasing the potential for a cellular MacBook Pro in the same year. The C1 modem chip is limited to sub-6GHz 5G speeds, but the second-generation version will support faster mmWave technology, according to Gurman.

M6 Series Chip
2nm Process
Before the MacBook Pro's major redesign, Apple plans to update the lineup with M5 series chips. The chips will be manufactured with TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, known as N3P, resulting in typical year-over-year performance and power efficiency improvements compared to the M4 series of chips. M6 chips, on the other hand, could adopt a completely new packaging process for Apple's overhauled MacBook Pro models.

According to one rumor, Apple's A20 chip in next year's iPhone 18 models will switch from the previous InFo (Integrated Fan-Out) packaging to WMCM (Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module) packaging. WMCM integrates multiple chips within the same package, allowing fo... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: OLED MacBook Pro May Not Launch Next Year After All
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/07/11/oled-macbook-pro-may-not-arrive-2026/
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darngooddesign said:
Good.

It shouldn't launch until Apple develops burn-in protection.
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this is something that manufacturers have been consistently improving ever since OLEDs hit the market. The iPad Pro is great at it with the tandem oled configuration, it can shift between the two layers whenever to rest some of the pixels.

Regardless, I don't want an OLED computer. I just want really good LCD. I don't want PWM on the screen that I'll be staring at while I work.
 
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When projecting out updates you can basically take the most minimal and incremental rumors... then assume Tim will give you a bit less than that and exclaim "we think you'll love it"!
 
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kevcube said:
this is something that manufacturers have been consistently improving ever since OLEDs hit the market. The iPad Pro is great at it with the tandem oled configuration, it can shift between the two layers whenever to rest some of the pixels.

Regardless, I don't want an OLED computer. I just want really good LCD. I don't want PWM on the screen that I'll be staring at while I work.
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Apple doesn't try to prevent burnin, they just hide the effects by reducing the brightness of unaffected pixels which means that over time that Tandem OLED screen is going to grow dimmer. Meanwhile a Mini LED screen will end up brighter than an OLED screen when used for the same number of years.

Hopefully OLED will remain as an option instead of a requirement.
 
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If indeed M5 is delayed, it is probably not deemed an upgrade enough on its own. Needs to be marketed with Apple Intelligence. And if AI is not ready this fall it will have to wait.

I am happy I snagged an M4 MBA on sale last week!
 
Apple will put OLED in their laptops when the screens can match or exceed the quality, battery life, longevity, and performance of the current LED screens. Maybe those screens are starting to be produced now or maybe they are a year or so away, but there are not yet commercially available OLED screens that can do that at the sizes of all MacBook Pro screens.
 
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A whole article on something that’s not even rumored. Apple has updated the MacBook Pro twice in one year before. Calm down.
 
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Again, that TC never fails to make me dislike him.

The current mini-LED is good enough for me. Just get rid of that notch and bring in a cpu update that brings back some resolutions for ultrawide.

Not interested in getting crazy thin laptops with reduced functionalities and heavier total weights after adding dongles.
 
I was waiting for the redesign before upgrading from my M1 Pro, which hasn’t skipped a beat. Hopefully this rumor is wrong and it’s still on track for next year.
 
"A major highlight was the reintroduction of several ports that were removed in previous iterations in favour of chassis thinness."

I would rather have lighter weight and if thinness is required to achieve that, so be it. Of the seven ports on my 16-in MBP I only ever use the USB-C ones. I don't use power, headphones, HDMI or XD card. I would gladly cut down to four USB-C ports, two each side.
 
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neuropsychguy said:
Apple will put OLED in their laptops when the screens can match or exceed the quality, battery life, longevity, and performance of the current LED screens. Maybe those screens are starting to be produced now or maybe they are a year or so away, but there are not yet commercially available OLED screens that can do that at the sizes of all MacBook Pro screens.
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I rather think they only do it if they have big upgrades in reserve for the future. Because if not, what is gonna drive people to upgrade after OLED? Some 15% improvement? Not even 30% after two years is that significant. The first OLED gen will last for years and years and years until people will wanna upgrade. Not good for business.
 
Turnpike said:
You mean it's not going to launch UNTIL next year? Your article says the "first half of 2026". Or did you mean "the first half of 2027".
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Read the article. M5 Macbooks launch early next year. Apple will not release two generations of Macbooks in the same year. So M6 OLED Macbooks will be 2027.
 
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“M5 Macs this year… including OLED M5 MacBooks.”
“No, wait… M5 Macs early 2026, not this year.”
“Scratch that, no OLED MacBooks next year.”

Looks like Apple is doing a good job keeping Gurman guessing.
 
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