Apple Unveils Its First Touchscreen MacBook Pro With PROLED XDR Display

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For over a decade, Apple resisted putting a touchscreen on the Mac. That changed on October 28, 2026, when the company unveiled the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display at its “Pro and Tell” event in Los Angele. Apple finally added a touchscreen to the MacBook Pro. 

Pre-orders opened the same day, and the laptops will become available in stores on November 6, 2026. 

A Long-Held Stance, Reversed 

Apple’s attitude against touchscreen Macs stretched back years. Both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook publicly dismissed the idea, arguing that lifting your arm to touch a vertical screen was ergonomically awkward and that the iPad is already available for such tasks. The only experiment Apple did was the Touch Bar, a narrow touch strip above the keyboard introduced in 2016, which it quietly removed from the MacBook Pro lineup in 2021. 

The new MacBook Pro is something categorically different. New Apple CEO John Ternus presented the machine, making this his third major product launch since taking over. Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, arrived in September. The touchscreen MacBook Pro follows. 

What’s New 

The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display comes in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, both powered by Apple’s M5 Pro or M5 Max chips. The additions over existing MacBook Pro models are: 

• A tandem OLED display (Apple brands it “PROLED XDR”) with up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness and a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. 

• Touch sensors built directly into the display panel, not layered on top, which Apple says reduces latency. 

• A redesigned hinge to keep the screen stable when you tap on it. 

• Dynamic Island, first time on a Mac, replacing the previous notch and serving as the home for Spotlight, Live Activities, and Siri. 

• A glowing Apple logo on the lid, a design Apple discontinued back in 2016. 

• The 14-inch model is just 3.0 lbs, down from 3.5 lbs, and the 16-inch model drops from 4.7 lbs to 4.0 lbs. 

Both models can be configured with up to 128GB of unified memory and up to 16TB of storage. The available colors are silver and space black, with an optional nano-texture display finish. The laptop is unlocked with Touch ID. Face ID is not included despite the Dynamic Island. 

How Touch Works on macOS 

Apple is positioning touch as an additional input method alongside the keyboard and trackpad, not a replacement. Users can swipe to scroll, pinch to zoom, drag and drop, and double-tap to fill a window. Apple also highlights professional use cases, such as graphic designers drawing directly on the full display, musicians playing software instruments onscreen, and developers testing iOS and iPadOS apps without a separate device. 

A video stabilization feature automatically smooths the camera feed during video calls when you are using touch on the screen. 

Pricing 

• 14-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display: Starting at $2,899 

• 16-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display: Starting at $3,399 

The existing mini-LED MacBook Pro models, updated to M5 Pro and M5 Max chips in March, remain available at their current prices for buyers who don’t need the new display or touch input.