The MacRumors Show: Goodbye MacBook Pro? MacBook Ultra Is Coming

[Sooby]

If it gets Apple Pencil support then it’ll be perfect for me. OLED will be beautiful and great for movies on the 16 inch version.

 

[DavidSchaub]

That's definitely a plausible timeline. The only bits I take issue with are:

October 2026
"Entry-level" 14" MacBook Pro gets the new M6 chip and becomes the only MacBook Pro model. Existing case and screen. Same new starting price of $1999, but with RAM, SSD and Nano-texture upgrades you can easily get it to $4,000.

The M5 Pro and M5 Max models get the redesign with OLED touchscreen and slimmer case and are rebranded as MacBook Ultras. Same higher starting price of $2499, but with RAM, SSD, cellular, and Nano-texture upgrades you can easily get it to $10,000.

This might end up being early 2027.

I'd still bet the current M5 MB Pros keep getting sold at the current price, and the new M5 MB Ultras get released for between $500 and $1000 more.

April 2027
The MacBook Neo gets the A20 Pro processor with 12GB of RAM and becomes a much better value at the same price.

I'd bet this is the A19 Pro, but otherwise.... sure.

June 2027 WWDC
The 14" MacBook Pro gets the AI-optimized base M7 chip AND the redesign with OLED touchscreen and slimmer case to bring it inline wth the design language of the Ultras. Apple will sell a metric bleepton of these. It's the prefect laptop for almost anyone who wants more than what the MacBook Air can offer.

I doubt this will happen until the MBP M7 Pro/Max does. Having the Air being one generation ahead is one thing, but not two, if Apple can help it.

October 2027
The Ultras are bumped to the AI-optimized M7 Pro and M7 Max at the same prices, and the true pros have their dream laptop. A new symmetry is established across all Apple's laptop lines for years to come.

And our only difference here is: I think the MB Pro line is a bit wider after the MB Ultra line is fully out.

 

[Vincent Hanna]

Keeping 14” and 16” laptops with Pro and Max chips branded as MacBook Pros, while simultaneously offering Ultra Versions above them at (much?) higher prices, on top of the huge price increases we just got, with the same chips, creating a matrix of no less than FIVE professional laptops that top out in the $4K-$12K range, does not seem tenable to me.

The traditional higher-end Pro and Max MacBook Pros simply being re-branded as Ultras, with the entry-level, base M-series remaining as the sole MacBook Pro model is MUCH simpler and cleaner.

 

[DavidSchaub]

Keeping 14” and 16” laptops with Pro and Max chips branded as MacBook Pros, while simultaneously offering Ultra Versions above them at (much?) higher prices, on top of the huge price increases we just got, with the same chips, creating a matrix of no less than FIVE professional laptops that top out in the $4K-$12K range, does not seem tenable to me.

The traditional higher-end Pro and Max MacBook Pros simply being re-branded as Ultras, with the entry-level, base M-series remaining as the sole MacBook Pro model is MUCH simpler and cleaner.

I agree that it is a touch messy, but I suspect that this wasn't the plan, either. Had the M6 Pro/Max chips come out, it would have looked cleaner. With the M5 sticking around, maybe at *slightly* lower prices and the M6 MB Ultra getting higher prices. Then the MB Pros could exist being updated later while the MB Ultras would maintain the cutting edge.

I didn't do a table of the M7 + M5 Pro/Max because it is clearly a mess. 😛

 

[Flight Plan]

Yet more clickbait guesses that are probably based on what somebody told somebody who told somebody and turns out to be nonsense. We need products from Apple not this constant drip drip drip of 3rd hand rumours !

Excuse me sir; this is a Wendy’s.

So maybe we'll get something like this, with some added wishcasts of my own:
View attachment 2644484

That’s going to be confusing.

“I’d like a MacBook Ultra Ultra.”

“Who’s on first?”

I really hope we do get a cellular option for the MacBooks at some point. I feel extra features like that will make the upsell more tolerable. I currently use my phone as a hotspot for the laptop but I'd love to cut the middleman out, would make things a lot easier when working outside away from any reliable Wi-Fi.

I also wonder what untapped names will come after they exhaust Ultra as the branding. How much further can we go? MacBook Pinnacle? iPhone Zenith?

The second highest to Pinnacle could be the Penultimate Pinnacle. iPhone Zenith … but do you want Pro, Max, Penultimate, or Ultimate? And now which chip would you like, the Pro or Max?

Okay, we’ve got you down for an iPhone 29 Pro Max Penultimate Ultimate. No sir, not the Ultimate Ultimate. We don’t make that one. But we DO make the Penultimate Ultimate. Delivery in 6 weeks okay with you?

 

[DavidSchaub]

That’s going to be confusing.

“I’d like a MacBook Ultra Ultra.”

But is it more confusing than trying to buy a MacBook Ultra and not being able to get an M7 Ultra in it? 🙂

 

[Vincent Hanna]

I agree that it is a touch messy, but I suspect that this wasn't the plan, either. Had the M6 Pro/Max chips come out, it would have looked cleaner. With the M5 sticking around, maybe at *slightly* lower prices and the M6 MB Ultra getting higher prices. Then the MB Pros could exist being updated later while the MB Ultras would maintain the cutting edge.

I agree that it’s messy, and that Plan A was the new Ultras having M6 Pro/Maxes, but now that those are not available, I think it makes even LESS sense to have two lines with the same SoCs.

Here’s a more detailed version of my chart from the previous page:

MacBook Neo: A-series, single 13” form factor

MacBook Air: M-series, two form factors 13” and 15”

MacBook Pro: M-series +1, one form factor 14”

MacBook Ultra: M-series Pro and Max +1, two form factors 14” and 16”.

 

[Varmann]

I start to get cold shivers about a return to the Mac product line in the mid-90s.
Please, do not make it even more confusing!
On the other hand, it can be worse (Intels CPU line, the last decade or so)

 

[Carrspasty]

Last time I looked… this website was called -MacRumors-

Well spotted, but same rumours just repeated aren't rumours thats called clickbait.

 

[Carrspasty]

And yet you're here like the rest of us, reading & commenting on said rumors

Did you have a point at any stage ?

 

[buckwheet]

They'll never do it, but if there was a configuration option that dropped touchscreen for a few hundred bucks I'd definitely choose it; totally indifferent to that feature. But a less chunky MBP would be nice, and cellular could be cool. As long as they don't farg with the ports and keyboard, I'm happy.

 

[DavidSchaub]

They'll never do it, but if there was a configuration option that dropped touchscreen for a few hundred bucks I'd definitely choose it; totally indifferent to that feature. But a less chunky MBP would be nice, and cellular could be cool. As long as they don't farg with the ports and keyboard, I'm happy.

Yeah, that won't happen.

If the MBUltra ships, it will exist to validate that higher price point.