The new 14-inch and 16-inch laptops feature touch support, brighter screens and lighter frames, starting at $2,899.
Apple introduced its first touchscreen MacBook Pro models at an event in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28, bringing touch controls and an OLED display to its flagship laptop lineup. The laptops come in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes powered by Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, as TechRadar reported.
The new machines, officially branded the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, mark a design shift for Apple’s notebooks. Both models carry a $400 price increase over existing non-OLED versions. The 14-inch model starts at $2,899, while the 16-inch version starts at $3,399, according to TechRadar, though CNET reported that the 14-inch M5 Max edition begins at $4,499. Preorders opened the week of the announcement, and deliveries are set to begin November 6.
Touch controls and chassis changes
The updated laptops allow users to tap, swipe, pinch, zoom and navigate macOS directly on the glass. To accommodate fingers pushing against the screen, Apple stiffened the hinge mechanism and installed image stabilization on the webcam to counter shaking during video calls. However, the display does not fold flat or rotate backward into a tablet format, and it doesn’t support the Apple Pencil.
The laptops also incorporate the Dynamic Island interface previously found on iPhones, along with the return of an illuminated Apple logo on the rear cover that glows when the lid opens. Both sizes shed weight from their predecessors. The 14-inch notebook weighs 3 pounds, down from 3.4 pounds, and the 16-inch model weighs 4 pounds, down from 4.7 pounds.
Hardware connectivity remains largely the same as previous generations, offering three Thunderbolt 5 ports, one USB-4 connection, an HDMI port, an SD card reader and a headphone jack. Apple also added Genlock support, an updated microphone and an upgraded sound system featuring Dolby Atmos and improved audio playback while closed. Battery life figures remain unchanged.
Why the new display technology matters
The new screen uses tandem OLED architecture, a panel design that stacks two light-emitting layers together to boost brightness and extend hardware life. Engadget reported that the screen reaches 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, improving on the 1,600 nits delivered by older mini-LED screens, while matching 1,000 nits for standard dynamic range across the full screen.
Apple lists a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio for the panel alongside a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate. The display expands color coverage across the P3 and Adobe RGB color gamuts and reaches 80 percent of the Rec. 2020 color space, which video editors use for mastering footage. Engadget noted that Apple added an internal display engine that adjusts individual pixel color and luminance at sub-millisecond intervals to track pixel age and reduce degradation over time. Buyers can also order the laptops with a nano-texture glass finish etched directly into the outer surface to cut down reflections in bright workspaces.
Background and release schedule
The arrival of touch on the Mac comes after years of separation between Apple’s tablet and laptop platforms, following broader hardware experiments such as the first Apple iPhone Duo reviews that examined folding form factors. The touchscreen debut also lands alongside Apple’s recent push into tandem OLED panels across high-end devices.
Beyond the base configurations, shoppers can select high-capacity storage upgrades, including a 16TB storage option that requires moving to the M5 Max chip and starts at $11,499 with 36GB of unified memory. Customers in Australia face starting prices of AU$4,599 for the 14-inch model and AU$5,499 for the 16-inch model, with United Kingdom pricing set at £2,899 and £3,399 respectively. Orders placed during the initial rollout are scheduled to ship to buyers starting November 6.
