Apple has launched its first touchscreen MacBook, called the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display. According to Apple’s press release on October 28, 2026, it comes in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, runs on M5 Pro or M5 Max chips, and starts at $2,899. Pre-orders are open now, and the laptop starts reaching buyers on Friday, November 6.
This is a big change for Apple, which kept touch off its laptops for years. New CEO John Ternus told media and analysts in Los Angeles that Apple is bringing touch to the Mac for the very first time. It is the latest in a run of new products since John Ternus took over as CEO.
How touch works on a Mac
Apple says you can use the screen the way you use a phone. You can scroll a webpage with a swipe, pinch to zoom on a photo, drag slides from one presentation to another, and double-tap a window to make it fill the screen. The touch sensor is built into the screen itself rather than placed on top, which Apple says makes it react faster.
Apple is aiming the feature at creative workers. Designers can draw across the whole screen instead of only on the trackpad, musicians can play instruments on the screen, and app developers can test how their iPhone and iPad apps respond to touch. A new hinge keeps the screen steadier when you tap it.
You do not need new apps to start. Many existing apps work with touch straight away because the Mac treats each tap as a click. Apple says apps such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Canva, Zoom, Adobe Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve will add proper touch support, though Apple says these will arrive later this year.
New screen, lighter body
The screen uses tandem OLED, which stacks two light-giving layers for a brighter, sharper picture. Apple says it reaches up to 2,000 nits of brightness and a contrast ratio of 10,000,000 to 1. The screens measure 14.2 and 16.3 inches.
The notch at the top of the screen is gone. In its place is the Dynamic Island, the pill-shaped strip from the iPhone. It shows music controls, calls, live updates and Siri AI.
Both models are thinner and lighter than before. The 14-inch model now weighs about 1.36 kg, and the 16-inch model about 1.81 kg. Apple claims up to 24 hours of battery life. The ports include three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, an SD card slot, MagSafe and a headphone jack. Reporters at the launch also spotted that the Apple logo on the lid lights up again, a feature Apple dropped in 2015.
What it costs in rupees
The touchscreen model costs a lot more than the regular MacBook Pro. Apple’s new non-touch 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6 chip, announced a day earlier, starts at $1,999, so the touch version costs $900 more at the starting level.
At the interbank dollar rate of Rs. 276.80 on October 27, Apple’s US prices work out as follows. The education price is for students and teachers in the US.
| Model | US price | Approx. in rupees |
|---|---|---|
| 14-inch, M5 Pro | $2,899 | Rs. 802,400 |
| 16-inch, M5 Pro | $3,399 | Rs. 940,800 |
| 14-inch, M5 Max | $4,499 | Rs. 1,245,300 |
| 16-inch, M5 Max | $4,799 | Rs. 1,328,400 |
These rupee figures are only a guide. Pakistan is not among the 30 countries where Apple is taking direct pre-orders. Local buyers will rely on resellers and importers, and import duties, taxes and seller margins usually push shop prices well above the converted figure.
Why Apple waited so long
Touchscreen laptops are not new. Microsoft pushed them with Windows 8 in 2012, and brands like Dell and Lenovo have sold them for years. Back in 2013, then-CEO Tim Cook mocked rivals for trying to turn PCs into tablets and tablets into PCs. Tim Cook is now executive chair of Apple’s board.
Apple’s earlier attempt at touch on the MacBook Pro was the Touch Bar in 2016, a thin touch strip above the keyboard. It never caught on with buyers, and Apple later dropped it.
Apple often arrives late to a product type and tries to make it simpler. It did the same with its first foldable iPhone, which went on sale last week, long after Samsung led that market. Investors will be watching Apple’s earnings call next week for early signs of how these new products are selling.
