Apple unveils MacBook Pro with OLED touchscreen and Dynamic Island

Apple unveiled 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with PROLED XDR displays built on tandem OLED panels. They are the first Macs with touchscreens: users can now control macOS with their fingers, and the familiar camera notch has been replaced by Dynamic Island.

Display

PROLED XDR uses two light-emitting OLED layers. Each pixel emits light independently and can turn off completely. The bezels are 4.6 mm wide.

Peak brightness reaches 2,000 nits when displaying HDR, as well as SDR in bright ambient light. Sustained full-screen brightness is up to 1,000 nits at temperatures below 25 °C. Minimum brightness is 1 nit, and contrast is 10, in 000, 000:1.

Both panels display more than a billion colors, support the P3 and Adobe RGB color spaces, and cover 81% of BT.2020. True Tone and ProMotion with an adaptive refresh rate of 10-120 Hz are supported. Fixed refresh rates of 47.95, 48, 50, 59.94, and 60 Hz are available for video work.

The standard glass has anti-reflective and oleophobic coatings. Its typical reflectance is 1%. Nano-texture glass, which diffuses reflected light, is also available.

The display controller adjusts each pixel’s operation based on temperature, content, and OLED usage. In addition to factory calibration, users can adjust the display and select reference modes for video, photography, and print. DICOM medical modes at 350 and 600 nits are intended for viewing, research, and education, but not for diagnosis.

Touch controls and Dynamic Island

The touch layer is built directly into the display. Multi-Touch lets users scroll pages, zoom and rotate objects, draw, and add annotations. Double-tapping expands a window, and a gesture can place it on the screen. Touch input complements the keyboard and trackpad.

The interface adapts in some ways to finger input. In WIRED’s demonstration, menu items grew larger, while Engadget noted that window-control buttons became slightly bigger. The Verge, however, pointed out that small elements can still be difficult to tap accurately.

Many existing apps work with the touchscreen right away: macOS converts touches into clicks. Touch-optimized versions of Notion, Canva, Zoom, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Adobe Lightroom, DaVinci Resolve, Blender, Maxon Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Shapr3D, and Algoriddim djay Pro are expected later in 2026.

Updates to Apple Creator Studio with touch tools will arrive in November. In Pixelmator Pro, users will be able to draw and select objects directly on the canvas; in Logic Pro, play a polyphonic virtual keyboard and drum pads; and in Final Cut Pro, mark ranges, place clips, and zoom the timeline. Developers will also be able to test touch interactions in iOS and iPadOS apps using Xcode.

Dynamic Island displays Live Activities and controls for ongoing activities. Users can answer a call or AirDrop request, track a delivery, and control music through it. The area can be pulled down to expand into a floating panel with Siri and search.

Spotlight moves into Dynamic Island only when Siri AI is available and enabled. Search can find documents, images, contacts, and emails, launch apps, and access clipboard history.

Design

The laptops come in aluminum enclosures in Space Black and Silver. The glowing Apple logo has returned to the lid.

A new hinge helps keep the display steady when touched. The redesigned cooling system directs hot air away from the screen.

The Magic Keyboard has backlighting, a full-height function-key row, and a Touch ID fingerprint scanner. A Force Touch trackpad is provided for cursor control.

Performance

The OLED models use the M5 Pro and M5 Max, which are already available in MacBook Pro models with mini-LED displays. Unified memory and SSD capacities depend on the chip selected.

The 15-core CPU has five super cores and ten performance cores; the 18-core CPU has six and twelve, respectively. All versions feature a 16-core Neural Engine and neural accelerators in the GPU. The graphics processor supports third-generation hardware-accelerated ray tracing and Dynamic Caching.

Media engines accelerate H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW processing, and support AV1 decoding. The M5 Max has two video encoding engines and two ProRes processing engines.

Battery

The 14-inch laptops have a 72.6 Wh lithium-polymer battery, while the 16-inch models have a 100 Wh battery. Claimed battery life varies by processor and usage scenario.

These are Apple’s test results. Battery life depends on workload, settings, and configuration.

The laptops can be charged via MagSafe 3 or USB-C with USB Power Delivery. For standard charging, Apple recommends a power adapter rated at 70 W or higher for the 14-inch model and 94 W or higher for the 16-inch model.

Fast charging requires adapters rated at 96 W and 140 W, respectively. With these adapters, Apple says the battery can reach 50% in 30 minutes.

In the US, the entry-level 14-inch configuration comes with a 70 W adapter, other 14-inch models with a 96 W adapter, and 16-inch models with a 140 W adapter. The box also includes a two-meter USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable.

Camera and audio

The 12 MP Center Stage camera supports automatic framing and Desk View for showing the surface of a desk. Video recording is available at 1080p. Image stabilization compensates for laptop movement when the screen is touched during video calls.

The audio system includes six speakers with force-cancelling woofers and updated tweeters. Apple says the new design delivers 50% deeper bass. A separate audio setting is available for use with the lid closed and an external monitor.

Spatial audio with Dolby Atmos is supported, as is head tracking with compatible AirPods. Three microphones use directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes are available.

Software and connectivity

The laptops run macOS 27 Golden Gate. Siri AI is listed as a beta feature in macOS 27.2, with support for English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Russian is not on the list. Apple Intelligence availability depends on region and language, and cloud features have daily usage limits.

The Apple N1 wireless chip provides Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread. The chassis has three USB-C Thunderbolt 5 ports with speeds of up to 120 Gbit/s and support for USB4 and DisplayPort 2.1, as well as HDMI, MagSafe 3, an SDXC slot, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack that supports high-impedance headphones.

M5 Pro supports up to three external displays, while M5 Max supports up to four with the built-in screen also active. Output modes include 8K at 60 Hz or 4K at 240 Hz; the number of connected displays depends on resolution and refresh rate.

Genlock is available for video production, synchronizing display refresh with camera capture. Compatible third-party hardware and software are required.

Pricing and availability

Pre-orders opened on October 28 in 30 countries and regions. Sales are scheduled to begin on November 6, 2026. The PROLED XDR versions expand the lineup; MacBook Pro models with mini-LED displays remain on sale.

Entry-level configurations with standard glass are priced as follows:

Education pricing is available to customers who qualify for Apple’s program. In Germany, the power adapter is not included and must be purchased separately.