Feb 26, 2026
3 min read
It will have an OLED screen showing a dynamic island.But the user can be prompted to turn off printing.
Rumors of a touchscreen MacBook Pro have been circulating for over three years, and they always left customers full of questions.First, "What would the user experience be like? The obvious answer, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, is that it's ... kind of confusing? But certainly full of new possibilities! And yes, it sounds like an iPhone with a keyboard — OLED screen, Dynamic Island and all. But only if you want it to."
However, Gurman's unnamed sources say that the touchscreen MacBook Pro will indeed arrive later this year.Don't expect an announcement at an upcoming Apple event.It's still technically a secret, with a late 2026 release date announced.
Apparently, the screen on this laptop will change everything - or maybe nothing.According to Bloomberg:
"Even with the new screen, Apple isn't touting the MacBook Pro as an iPad replacement or its screen as a touch-first experience. Instead, it blends in with a familiar point-and-click approach, allowing users to use as much or as little touch input as they want."
If Apple is really going to rush it, that's understandable.If you've ever worked with a touchscreen computer, you've probably experienced this a lot as a bloat feature.There are many articles about completely disabling the touchscreen option on a Windows computer.On the other hand, some people (myself included) absolutely love the new Windows capabilities with the touchscreen display and never plan to look at it again.
On the MacBook Pro, the new Dynamic Island—a version of the morphing tablet on the floating camera hole on some iPhone screens—will reportedly sit above the screen.On the iPhone, the dynamic island will become the unlock button and also the place that will instinctively catch your attention when you take out the phone.It can display the remaining time on a timer, sports scores, flight information and more.
According to Bloomberg, the corresponding version of macOS allows iPhone-style zooming and scrolling, and a new type of popup menu when the user taps a button.However, the basic appearance hasn't changed drastically from the current MacBook.
Interestingly, this change may partly explain why Apple is still clinging to the unpopular Liquid Glass aesthetic, including on MacBooks, even as users rage against it.Gurman writes that Liquid Glass makes some small changes that will ease the MacBook Pro's transition to a touch screen, including a more touch-friendly Control Center slider and "more padding" around certain notifications.
