Apple Is Preparing to Release a MacBook Pro With a Touchscreen (and Four Other Devices).
It’s been a busy fall for Apple. Visit the company’s website and you’ll immediately be greeted by a sea of new products: the foldable iPhone Duo; the iPhone 18 Pro; the HomePod mini 2; the Apple Watch Series 12; and the list goes on. Under new CEO John Ternus, the company seems poised to update nearly every product. However, it appears the process is far from complete . This week alone, Apple plans to release five brand-new products, all of which will go on sale Friday. Four of them are Macs, but Apple is also working on a new iPad. Here are all the new products Apple is releasing this week.
OLED iPad mini
Finally ! For the first time, the iPad mini will feature an OLED display . Apple’s smallest tablet has always featured a standard screen. Despite its price, the iPad mini has never had an OLED display or even a mini-LED screen, until now. The new model lacks a backlight. This means that each individual pixel on the iPad display will be able to turn off when displaying dark content. This will improve the viewing experience on this device, as well as the overall contrast of the screen.
In addition to the new OLED panel, the new iPad mini is thinner and lighter than the previous model. It also features Apple’s latest A20 Pro chip, the same processor found in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo. The new device starts at $699 for the 128GB version, though there are various upgrades, including nano-texture glass (an additional $100) and cellular connectivity (an additional $150).
iMac M6
Good news: there’s a new iMac . Bad news: little has changed from the previous model. The biggest change is the new M6 chip, which Apple says is up to five times faster than the M4 iMac and up to 12 times faster than the M1 iMac. Thanks to the M6 chip, the iMac now supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. Otherwise, it’s the same iMac you might already know: it features a 24-inch LED display (sadly, no OLED), two or four USB-C ports (depending on configuration), and a built-in 12-megapixel webcam. If you’re looking for a new all-in-one computer or considering upgrading your older iMac, this is probably a great choice. But if you already have an M-series iMac, it’s not such an obvious upgrade. (My M1-equipped iMac may be 12 times slower, but it’s still plenty fast for me.) Apple hasn’t changed the price: The M6-equipped iMac still starts at $1,499 for a dual-port model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
MacBook Pro M6 (14-inch)
Likewise, Apple’s latest 14-inch MacBook Pro is little different from the previous model—except for the new processor. This model also features the Apple M6 chip, which Apple claims delivers 13 times faster AI processing than the MacBook Pro with the M1 chip. (Apple appears to be keen to convince stubborn M1 users to upgrade this cycle.) The company now offers this MacBook Pro model with three chipsets, depending on usage scenario: the M6 for entry-level professional work; the M5 Pro for mid-level professional work; and the M5 Max for the most demanding tasks.
But, like the iMac M6, this is the same MacBook Pro Apple has sold before. It features a 14-inch mini-LED display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. It has three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, an HDMI port, and an SDXC memory card slot. It also has a 12-megapixel webcam for video calls. Apple’s latest MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, but the price can quickly be increased by upgrading the display, processor, memory, or storage.
MacBook Pro with Touch Screen (14-inch and 16-inch)
The most exciting development this week for Apple was undoubtedly the new MacBook Pro with touch screen . Unlike the MacBook Pro m6, which only comes in a 14-inch version, Apple’s first touchscreen notebook is available in both 14-inch and 16-inch models. Apple says this touchscreen lets you scroll, zoom, and draw on the display. This works with both basic functions, like browsing the web or selecting files, and more specific workflows, like playing virtual instruments in Logic Pro or manipulating an object in a 3D modeling app. Like the iPad mini, this notebook features an OLED display (Apple calls it PROLED XDR) with typical brightness up to 1000 nits and HDR brightness up to 2000 nits. It also brings back the backlit Apple logo, something I sorely missed on my last two MacBooks.
This MacBook Pro is the first to feature the iPhone’s Dynamic Island feature. It replaces the notch currently found on other MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs. This feature can be used as a regular webcam, as well as a dedicated area for Spotlight, Live Activities, and Siri AI. This model comes with either the M5 Pro or M5 Max processors—the M6 is not included—as Apple appears to be positioning it exclusively for the most demanding tasks (especially AI-powered ones). The company claims the new MacBook Pro has up to 13 hours of battery life longer than the Intel-based MacBook Pro and can quickly charge to 50% in 30 minutes. Essentially, it’s an improved version of the existing MacBook Pro.
This makes it Apple’s most expensive laptop. The 14-inch M5 Pro starts at $2,899, while the 16-inch version starts at $3,399. However, these machines can be configured to make their price prohibitive. The top-of-the-line 16-inch MacBook Pro costs $14,549, with 16 TB of RAM accounting for roughly half of that price.