2026 Apple Devices
- Thread starter wco81
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That's ...a lot of pixels.
I don't think the current version is much more than a technology demonstrator, but setups like that seem like they'd be a good fit for streaming displays into a future version of a Vision Pro.
I don't think the current version is much more than a technology demonstrator, but setups like that seem like they'd be a good fit for streaming displays into a future version of a Vision Pro.
Plot twist: spent all money on monitors and books, can only afford a single room. Hence the bed at bottom right.
Apple is using processes to use recycled metals using 3D printing and other techniques. The goal is not only to cut costs but to manufacture thinner or more waterproof designs which 3D-printing allows when forging and milling doesn't.
https://apple.news/AylIMc2CKQqmZ7tmlml55Ww
https://apple.news/AylIMc2CKQqmZ7tmlml55Ww
Maybe this has already been discussed in this thread but I’m curious if anyone here uses a digital wall calendar?
Just saw this MacRumors blurb Apple 'HomePad' to Offer Magnetic Snap-to-Wall Feature and More and, while I’m not sure there’s much to this particular rumor, it did get me thinking that there is a lot of obvious synergy here with several existing Apple apps/services and the whole ecosystem generally.
Edit: typos
Just saw this MacRumors blurb Apple 'HomePad' to Offer Magnetic Snap-to-Wall Feature and More and, while I’m not sure there’s much to this particular rumor, it did get me thinking that there is a lot of obvious synergy here with several existing Apple apps/services and the whole ecosystem generally.
Edit: typos
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New rumors about the upcoming OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro:
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/08/apple-planning-macbook-ultra/
It would be called the MacBook Ultra and would stand above, but not replace, the current M5 Pro/Max offerings.
...and it would cost around 20% more.
That's interesting. I think the current high-end MacBooks are already borderline too expensive. Configuring a Max laptop can already become prohibitively costly really fast, so I don't know if there's a real market willing to absorb a 20% price increase. But we'll see.
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/08/apple-planning-macbook-ultra/
It would be called the MacBook Ultra and would stand above, but not replace, the current M5 Pro/Max offerings.
...and it would cost around 20% more.
That's interesting. I think the current high-end MacBooks are already borderline too expensive. Configuring a Max laptop can already become prohibitively costly really fast, so I don't know if there's a real market willing to absorb a 20% price increase. But we'll see.
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I’m skeptical. Not that they’ll introduce a model that’s more expensive than the MBP, but that it will be a durable differentiation. Will the MBP continue with mini-LED indefinitely? Will they go through the effort of making macOS touch enabled only to gatekeep it to a $3K machine??? Both of those seem really unlikely. And when OLED and the touchscreen make their way down to the MBP what’s going to maintain the differentiation? I don’t see how Apple maintains a separate MBP and MBU lineup for more than a year or two.
Agree. The only path in which this could make sense would be Ultra adopting a form factor that trades off pro-fiendly benefits of the current MBP; thinking of ports and battery life. Which would leave you with some kind of... luxury, Edition-style MacBook Air? Not unfathomable but unlikely, especially with the price tiers that current MBPs now occupy.
We've been through this exact transition once before, when the 2012 Retina MacBook Pro first appeared as a high-end product and then became the standard product once Apple could source enough panel capacity to make it so. I read this purely as a way to allocate scarce supplies of OLED panels in this size and dpi range. When (if, from the iPad experience) Apple can get enough of them, this will become the MBP.
Whether the OLED panel will truly be better from an image quality perspective, rather than just being easier to package well, is a separate question. I'm not at all convinced that the iPad Pro OLED panel is truly better than the previous Mini-LED panel at anything except true blacks. When I look at them side-by-side I genuinely think the Mini-LED panel has both a wider gamut and better viewing angles.
Whether the OLED panel will truly be better from an image quality perspective, rather than just being easier to package well, is a separate question. I'm not at all convinced that the iPad Pro OLED panel is truly better than the previous Mini-LED panel at anything except true blacks. When I look at them side-by-side I genuinely think the Mini-LED panel has both a wider gamut and better viewing angles.
^ Agree with you directionally, and this did make sense in 2012: a time when high-density laptop displays were nonexistent. But today? PC laptops have been running the OLED race for years already, and many exist with resolutions at or exceeding retina density.
Vincent Hanna
Ars Scholae Palatinae
There is ABSOLUTELY a market for a MacBook Ultra. Professionals that need every ounce of speed that the (presumedly exclusive) M6 Pro and Max chips will offer over the still available M5 MacBook Pros, and also a second group of price insensitive, high-end consumers who just want the best. There are a LOT more of that second group in the world than most nerds realize.
Plus by making it an uber-tier above the MacBook Pro, it can be a high cost/low volume product not hamstrung by having to hit mass sales figures.
And assuming this is the plan, I think it increases the chance there won’t even be a base M6 chip. Apple can move to the super expensive 2nm process on just low volume, high margin chips, especially as they now have competition for wafer space at TSMC. Everything else stays on the M5 family for an entire cycle.
Plus by making it an uber-tier above the MacBook Pro, it can be a high cost/low volume product not hamstrung by having to hit mass sales figures.
And assuming this is the plan, I think it increases the chance there won’t even be a base M6 chip. Apple can move to the super expensive 2nm process on just low volume, high margin chips, especially as they now have competition for wafer space at TSMC. Everything else stays on the M5 family for an entire cycle.
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Are any of those PC OLED laptops products that even come within two orders of magnitude of MBP volume? From everything I can tell, they are almost all either speciality lines or expensive, small-take-rate options on more mainstream business or workstation lines.
That huge market for $5,000 USD base-config laptops will be happy, then! And I can't even imagine how that would translate into EUR or CAD.
But yeah, I agree it will probably be considred a low-volume product at first, like the custom-configured Studios.
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There’s a whole class of executives/managers who have a MBP for (waves hands) reasons, but who surely don’t need a Pro workstation. I’ve often wondered what a laptop specifically targeting that market would look like.
I’d also note that Apple offers 3 M series chips for laptops - M, MPro, MMax. But they only offer chassis designed to the thermal limits of two of them - the M (MBA) and MMax (MBP). There’s no chassis designed tightly to the thermal limits of the MPro.
Take those two thoughts together with the rumor that this device is going to be thinner and lighter than the MBP and squint real hard and you can almost see a MacBook Executive:
M6 Pro, high end OLED screen, touchscreen, good battery life, extremely thin and light (thinner and lighter than you could make a laptop that needed to accommodate an M6Max. Make it come only in Serious Business Black.
That would be something you could potentially keep in the lineup alongside the Pros.
I'm curious whether OLED will have the same brightness output as the mini LED.
People may be wowed enough by the saturated colors though.
But you can't get as much high image quality video content through the browser as you can through the video streaming apps on the iPad.
I don't have the top tier Netflix account so I don't know if 4K and HDR streams are available on their mobile apps or only on TV streaming devices.
Amazon has HDR streams on iPad Pro but not Apple TV 4K while Peacock is vice versa.
Will any of these services serve up 4K HDR streams through the browser on MacOS?
I dunno how representative this is, but: I went shopping for a gaming laptop last year. Pretty much every one I looked at in my price range ($1000-$1500) was either OLED by default, or offered an OLED screen as an upgrade. The one I settled on, a bog-standard Lenovo Legion, has a pretty gorgeous 1440p 165hz OLED screen. It was $1100. My MBP's screen is better in some ways (much higher resolution), and worse in other ways (contrast/black levels, color vibrancy, refresh rate). The MBP technically gets brighter, but it doesn't really matter in typical use.
I really think Macs are the outlier at this point in at least not offering OLED options.
I think the Neo is a brilliant machine, and i am considering one in Citrus, and Citrus makes sense due to the lack of backlight, i am guessing the panel shining on the keyboard is going to make it a non issue for late night writing which is what i am considering it for. Writing books, so what would be important is build quality, how good it is to actually type on and long battery life.
8GB is fine - fewer distractions. I might miss a backlit keyboard, but i do not think it will be much of a problem.
What i have not found in the PC world are low cost machines with a good build quality and great battery life. The panel is either TN or VA, the plastic squeaks and sound is tinny at best. The keyboards are not usually something to write home about either as they vary from model to model. There are the qualcomms Windows Arm machines, but i doubt they will be supported much in the years to come, seems the 2nd gen gets all the attention now and the 1st gen are almost given away.
The Neo seems to fit my intended use-case perfectly. I will for sure go check one out as soon as they enter the stores here. Bravo Apple.
8GB is fine - fewer distractions. I might miss a backlit keyboard, but i do not think it will be much of a problem.
What i have not found in the PC world are low cost machines with a good build quality and great battery life. The panel is either TN or VA, the plastic squeaks and sound is tinny at best. The keyboards are not usually something to write home about either as they vary from model to model. There are the qualcomms Windows Arm machines, but i doubt they will be supported much in the years to come, seems the 2nd gen gets all the attention now and the 1st gen are almost given away.
The Neo seems to fit my intended use-case perfectly. I will for sure go check one out as soon as they enter the stores here. Bravo Apple.
From having watched various short videos from the launch event, all 4 colours come with a white keyboard tinted slightly, rather than a black keyboard. So your statement should apply to any colour, not just citrus.
Vincent Hanna
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Alongside, but not above. They aren’t going to charge more for a laptop with a Pro chip than a Max chip.
But I’m glad to see you second the idea that there is such thing as an executive class laptop. My contention is that those buyers can be easily pushed all the way up into the $3000 Ultra tier. No reason to make a M Pro thermally optimized version for them.
If these last releases are anything to go by, assuming the upmarket rumors are true, the new machines will be called MacBook Pro and the existing MacBook Pro will be retroactively renamed MacBook Super.
The indigo one looks darker than the others, seems the silver and citrus one have a brighter keyboard, perhaps the silver one moreso than the citrus one. The indigo color is though very beautiful.
Is the Dell XPS 14 mainstream? To your point, the 2880x1800 display is an upgrade. The very fact that it's Dell offering this display makes today distinctly different from the rMBP's 2012 introduction.
In sum: the laptop OLED supply chain exists and is healthy for a diversity of manufacturers. We aren't likely to see Apple encounter display shortages unless of its own making. Remember, they already offer a higher-density OLED on the iPad Pro.
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What you’re selling with the M Pro thermal optimization is “thin and light” in a way that you simply can’t with an M Max. With the 2nm node, more efficient LPDDR6 memory and the OLED screen you might be able to get an M Pro device that’s 14” and almost as light or as light as a MBA. If the n2 node is as good as advertised and you were willing to underclock it a bit relative to the M Pro in the MacBook Pro you might even be able to do fanless.
You’d want to give it a body shape that advertises your conspicuous consumption - maybe a return to the wedge? What you’re selling isn’t power, it’s prestige. So an M Pro in the right wrapper could command a nice price.
Vincent Hanna
Ars Scholae Palatinae
The upcoming touchscreen M6 MacBook Pro Ultra is assumed to be thinner and lighter. If so, I think it can easily pull double duty as a supercar flagship powerhouse device for real pros, while also being svelte and sexy enough to serve as our vanity Executive Laptop. No need for yet another model of MacBook.
If they could produce a 16-inch equivalent with same power, storage and expansion options while shaving say 200-250 grams, it'll be a magnet for the price-insensitive buyers, which is a lot of Apple's customers.
I’m not positing another model. I’m suggesting that the rumored Ultra is this model rather than a MacBook Pro update. I’m suggesting that that the svelte, sexy device gets that way by foregoing a Max. Then it would be something like this:
Fall ‘26 - Svelte, sexy Exec Book M6 and Exec Book M6 Pro
March ‘27 (one year after the MBP got M6) - MacBook Pro M6 Pro and MacBoo Pro M6 Max (same chonky MBP that we all know and love + touchscreen maybe).
I still have some difficulty imagining a thin, light "exec" laptop costing 20% more than an M5 Max being a thing in the current global economic context.
Here's the thing: your actual pro users are going to spec their MBPs with a whole bunch more RAM and NAND than the median "Executive (I hate this name) MacBook" user. The bulk of high-end Mac revenue and margin will still come from professionals.
Keeping OLED away from the workhorse MBPs? It might fly for a year. But those pro users demand Apple's top performance tier; denying them the latest M-series would be a critical error, IMO.
Keeping OLED away from the workhorse MBPs? It might fly for a year. But those pro users demand Apple's top performance tier; denying them the latest M-series would be a critical error, IMO.
I’m assuming that 20% won’t be a flat, across-the-board increase. It’ll likely be from whatever base model it starts from, likely $2200 for a 14” machine and/or $2700 for 16”, so $500-600 total. After that the rest of the upgrades will follow the standard pricing.
Agreed. I’m also skeptical that there’s really all that big a market for an executive model. I have no doubt there are people out there that would want it, but I’m not sure there are enough to make the product a success. Especially since, as you point out, those same customers are way less likely to spring for additional upgrades.
Not only that, there’s the touch screen aspect as well. Adding touch capabilities to macOS at anything more than a minimalist level is a massive undertaking (and a minimalist approach is guaranteed to be a boondoggle that would make Liquid Glass’ reception appear downright welcoming) that only makes sense if it’s intended to propagate down the rest of the line, or at least to the rest of their laptops. We saw with the TouchBar what happens when Apple tries to introduce a new interface element that’s supported by only part of their product line. I can only hope they learned the necessary lessons from that failure.
This strategy would make sense in a K-shaped economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. An "executive model" could be a big seller for the fairly substantial number of folks who are doing well, while the Neo would be targeted at...just about everyone else.
I agree with this. If MacOS is going to make the leap to enabling touch in a meaningful way, it needs to be available up and down the lineup, or it either won't be sufficiently functional for people with touch laptops, or the required compromises will be in the way and inconvenient for the folks without touch laptops.
If the rumor MPB Ultra is thinner than the Pro, the "Max" chip is ruled out. Which means that users won't get top power and top features (OLED) at the same time. I don't think Apple ever did so for laptops.
That's likely to happen, although I don't like the prospect of Macbook pros getting more expensive.
Apple has always linked compute power with top features, except thinness and weight, for obvious reasons. The "Max" chip won't be restricted to the lesser display.
Vincent Hanna
Ars Scholae Palatinae
I was going to post something along these lines, but this is perfectly summarized. This MacBook Ultra (and the iPhone Fold/Ultra, for that matter) are K-shaped economy plays.
I don’t have any numbers on what percentage of users buy a MacBook because they “need” it versus conspicuous consumption, but I have a strong suspicion that it’s tilted towards the executive class more than you might think. We just had a meeting with a software vendor that’s a Mac shop. Everyone including the sales people and project manager showed up with MBPs. The sole implementation person at this meeting? MBA.
Yeah, I don’t think it would even be a year. My guess would be that if Apple went this road, the Exec Book would have exclusivity on the OLED and M6 Pro for about 3-4 months. Late October Exec Book intro, January or February MacBook Pro. I’d also guess that the Exec Book would neither need nor allow the amount of RAM of a MBP.
Not necessarily. The 2nm node could be so much more power efficient that in conjunction with the OLED display it allows Apple to make an M6 Max fit in an enclosure markedly thinner than an M5 Max could… But I have my doubts about just how much thinner they could go with that which is why I’m musing about an M6 Pro - specific device.
Neo. Air. Pro without Pro. Pro with Pro. Billionaire Pro.
If Steve Jobs was still around, he would … you know the story.
If Steve Jobs was still around, he would … you know the story.