While the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro were updated with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips earlier this year, bigger changes are reportedly around the corner.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the higher-end MacBook Pro models will be receiving a major redesign by early 2027, and he said that Apple might use "MacBook Ultra" branding for them. If so, the MacBook Ultra would likely be a higher-priced model at the top of the MacBook lineup, sitting above the MacBook Pro entirely.
Up to six new features have been rumored so far, including an OLED display, touch capabilities, a Dynamic Island, M6 Pro and M6 Max chips manufactured with TSMC's advanced 2nm process, a thinner design, and built-in cellular connectivity.
The exact launch timing remains to be seen, but Gurman recently said that early 2027 is now looking more likely than late 2026 due to the global memory chip shortage. Apple's supply of RAM is constrained, which might push back the launch.
Keep in mind that the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6 chip is not expected to receive many of the changes listed below.
Apple last redesigned the MacBook Pro in 2021, when the M1 Pro and M1 Max models launched, so the MacBook Ultra would represent the first major redesign in at least five years and is a model that many customers are holding out for.
Below, we recap rumored MacBook Ultra features.
OLED Display
Regardless of whether Apple uses MacBook Pro or MacBook Ultra branding, it is widely expected that these will be the first MacBooks with OLED displays.
The current MacBook Pro models are equipped with LCD displays with mini-LED backlighting. The move to OLED technology would result in improved image quality, thanks to richer colors and higher contrast ratio with true blacks.
All of the iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad Pro models that Apple sells today are already equipped with OLED displays, excluding refurbished models.
Touch Screen
Not only will the MacBook Ultra be moving to OLED, but the display will apparently have touch-screen capabilities too. This functionality would allow Mac users to use both their fingers and a keyboard and mouse/trackpad for input.
Steve Jobs said that a touch-screen Mac would cause arm fatigue, but he made that comment a long time ago, and Apple does reverse course from time to time.
Dynamic Island
Yet another display-related change rumored for the MacBook Ultra is a hole-punch camera, and this will pave the way for a Dynamic Island instead of a notch.
With a Dynamic Island, the MacBook Ultra would be another step towards a truly edge-to-edge display with thin bezels. Like on the iPhone, the Dynamic Island would display things such as low battery life alerts and AirPods connection indicators in the area surrounding the camera at the top-center part of the screen.
M6 Pro and M6 Max Chips
This one is obvious, but the MacBook Ultra is expected to be powered by Apple's next-generation M6 Pro and M6 Max chips. Notably, these chips are expected to be manufactured with TSMC's advanced 2nm process, which should result in greater year-over-year performance and efficiency gains than usual.
The current M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are built with TSMC's third-generation 3nm process.
Thinner Design
MacBook Ultra is expected to have a thinner design compared to the MacBook Pro.
The move from LCD with mini-LED backlighting to OLED would contribute to the thinner design, and there could be other changes that help to slim things down.
As of now, there has been no indication that Apple plans to once again remove ports like HDMI, MagSafe, or the SD card slot in order to achieve this thinner design, but we shall see. That was a very unpopular decision the last time it happened.
Cellular
Macs can already connect to a cellular network via the Personal Hotspot feature on a nearby iPhone or iPad, but Apple has reportedly at least considered built-in cellular connectivity for future Macs. If these plans moved forward, the MacBook Ultra would likely be equipped with Apple's C1X or future C2 modem for 5G and LTE.
