I’m thinking we shouldn’t hold Apple accountable to someone else’s rumor mill.
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OLED MacBook Pro May Not Launch Next Year After All
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" A MacBook Pro without a notch would offer additional visible pixels on the screen, creating a more uninterrupted and cohesive display design."
The wording here makes it sound like an Apple-exclusive feature! Heck, literally every Windows user already has a "more uninterrupted and cohesive display design."
The wording here makes it sound like an Apple-exclusive feature! Heck, literally every Windows user already has a "more uninterrupted and cohesive display design."
Haha that’s why we shouldn’t trust those things articles that say to wait : https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/5-reasons-to-wait-for-next-years-macbook-pro.2446971/
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.
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
I made the best choice by buying the M4 MacBook Pro and I am happy 🤪
But Apple did in 2023. The M2 MBPs came out in January and the M3s in October.
It tickles me - I spent years waiting for an OLED iPad, and it was years of “next year, it’s coming!” And I about gave up when miniLED iPads came out.
But then they did! And it’s everything I hoped it would be.
But now the cycle has started anew, this time with MacBooks… next year! This time for sure!
That is to say, I’m sure they’ll come out. Just who knows actually when.
But then they did! And it’s everything I hoped it would be.
But now the cycle has started anew, this time with MacBooks… next year! This time for sure!
That is to say, I’m sure they’ll come out. Just who knows actually when.
Just like there was no OLED capable of being used in an iPhone in spite of other manufacturers using them for years in advance.
The M4 Pro Mini LED Nanotexture has basically checked every box for me in terms of what I want in a laptop. I can use it outdoors on a perfectly sunny day and actually see the screen. Battery lasts all day. Great connectivity options. And the improved display ghosting over the last gen is super noticeable.
Well 2027 is probably when I will be ready for an upgrade so the timing may favor me.
what a dumpster fire apple's become. china keeps shipping ultra thin superior stuff. im still stuck with 60hz on my air when everything else i see is 120+. the macbook pro is so fat. what idiot still uses a hdmi port? nothing wosre then a brain dead apple fan boy in 2025.
This topic (and similar ones where we wait for Apple to catch up) always cracks me up because we are getting plenty of "I don't understand why people want OLED" and "Apple Mini-LED is great! I don't want anything more!"
...and as soon as these finally come, the narrative will pivot to "I can't use anything else", "non OLED = trash!", etc.
lol
In Apple-fan-land, it's a story as old as the day is long.
...and as soon as these finally come, the narrative will pivot to "I can't use anything else", "non OLED = trash!", etc.
lol
In Apple-fan-land, it's a story as old as the day is long.
At this point, Apple should just drop the hardware market altogether and stick to its failed, beloved “services” only.
I use the MacBook Air screen. it's not great, but it works for me. I would like an upgraded LCD, I don't need miniLED like the MacBook Pro screen
Apple could choose to build a display with DC dimming but no. PWM or nothing. Considering the number of people suffering epilepsy, Apple believes they are making the right call.
I doubt anyone can change their mind really.
By simply having a thick enough bezel to house the front facing camera and offer a screen with zero notches. But no, people in the world of Apple demands borderless display but can live with a big notch. Weird, don’t you think?
My 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max (maxed out except for a 4TB drive, instead of an 8TB drive) feels as fast and perfect as it did on day one. I am perfectly happy to wait for a major physical design change. Will a "new case" and an OLED screen M6 make me buy a new one? Dunno. Have you seen my Liquid Retina XDR display? It's pretty sweet. I used to get a new MBP every three-ish years. This fall starts the fifth year. Apple Silicon is one of the best Apple innovations since the Mac itself.
I have ... briefly had one ... the blooming was awful in my usage of it.
OLED and certainly Tandem OLED will be a huge upgrade for you when it comes.
OMG OLED is coming.... It's not... It's coming!... It's not...
Been saying the same thing for a decade at this point. It's bad, we can set our clocks to it.
Been saying the same thing for a decade at this point. It's bad, we can set our clocks to it.
Are those real a lot of updates? A new chip, a new port and some minor display changes?
It’s a professional laptop, with cooling to match, what mobile workstations of comparable power are you comparing it to that are super thin? Apple makes the laptop you want, it’s the air. I’ll give you the refresh rate annoyance on the air (though personally I honestly cant see the difference most of the time), but complaining about the pros being slightly chunkier than they used to be is silly. Now they dont try to take off from my desk when their fans spin up.
Again, it’s a professional laptop, and the answer is “literally everyone who’s ever had to plug into a display in a conference room”. That’s why they added HDMI *back*, because the target audience complained, a lot.
Just because you’re not the target audience for a device or feature doesnt mean it’s stupid
I would suggest that four Thunderbolt 5 ports should be your minimum, not simply four USB-C shaped ports. We can convert the bandwidth of TB to all kinds of good things using dongles and docks. I did so for years with the four TB3 ports of a 2016 MBP until the 16 GB RAM became too limiting.
Apple hamstringed the MBPs when they reduced the TB ports from four to three. The one thing that still allows my M2 MBP to be a great computer is that Apple added the HDMI port when they took away one TB port. Plus to be fair, TB4 means the bandwidth increased despite having one less TB port.
Personally I agree that Apple should probably again focus the USB-C shaped ports in the next MBP design - - as long as a minimum of four ports carrying TB5 are available.