Tag: Apple

Apple Unveils Touchscreen MacBook Pro With OLED Display: Features, Price and Release Date

Apple’s new touchscreen MacBook Pro pairs OLED display technology with touch controls, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, a refreshed design and premium pricing. Here’s what to know.

Apple has unveiled a major change to the MacBook Pro: a touchscreen. Announced on October 28, the redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch models pair touch input with the familiar keyboard and trackpad, giving creative professionals and everyday users another way to interact with macOS.

The new models also introduce an OLED display to the MacBook Pro line, a refreshed screen design, and premium pricing. Here is what buyers should know about Apple’s new laptop.

A slim silver professional laptop with a vivid OLED touchscreen being tapped by a hand, illustrating the new touchscreen MacBook Pro.
Concept image illustrating the new touchscreen MacBook Pro design.

A touchscreen MacBook Pro — without giving up the keyboard

The biggest change is touch support. Users can tap and gesture directly on the display while still using the keyboard and trackpad. Apple is presenting touch as an additional way to work, rather than turning the MacBook Pro into a detachable tablet.

That could be useful for zooming into photos, manipulating timelines, navigating creative apps, or quickly selecting on-screen controls. Whether it becomes an everyday habit will depend on how well touch interactions fit into people’s existing Mac workflows.

OLED display is another major upgrade

The new display uses OLED technology, which can produce deep blacks and high contrast by turning individual pixels off. Reporting on the announcement says Apple is branding the screen as PROLED XDR, with a claimed peak brightness of up to 2,000 nits and a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Real-world performance will be clearer once independent reviews and testing are available.

Design changes and performance

The redesigned laptops retain 14-inch and 16-inch size options. The display’s former notch has been replaced by a Dynamic Island-style cutout, and Apple has highlighted a lighter design. The announced configurations use M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, so the headline changes are the screen, touch interaction and industrial design rather than a new M-series Pro or Max generation.

How much does the touchscreen MacBook Pro cost?

The new OLED touchscreen models are positioned at the premium end of Apple’s laptop lineup. Reported U.S. starting prices are:

  • 14-inch with M5 Pro: $2,899
  • 16-inch with M5 Pro: $3,399
  • 14-inch with M5 Max: $4,499
  • 16-inch with M5 Max: $4,799

Upgraded memory and storage configurations can raise the final price. Apple began taking preorders on October 28, with availability reported for November 6. Check Apple’s store for current configurations, delivery estimates and regional pricing.

Should you upgrade?

The touchscreen and OLED panel are the main reasons to consider this generation. People who edit photos and video, work with visual tools, or simply prefer direct interaction may find the new controls appealing. If your current MacBook Pro already meets your needs, it is sensible to wait for hands-on reviews that measure display quality, battery life, comfort and the usefulness of touch in everyday macOS apps.

Also consider the price: these are high-end machines, and a touchscreen alone may not justify replacing a recent laptop. Compare the exact chip, memory, storage and display options before spending.

Where to get the official details

For specifications, configurations and purchase information, visit the official Apple MacBook Pro page. For independent reporting on the announcement and display claims, read Ars Technica’s coverage.

The NA Times will continue to follow Apple’s Mac lineup as reviews and more real-world details become available.

IPHONE DUO…

Apple finally did it. At yesterday’s “Surprise and Shine” event at Apple Park, the company pulled back the curtain on its first-ever foldable iPhone — and after years of rumors, leaks, and speculation, the real thing is even more ambitious than most of us expected. Say hello to the iPhone Duo.

A New Shape for iPhone

This was also a bit of a milestone moment behind the scenes: it marked John Ternus’s first keynote as Apple’s CEO, following Tim Cook’s exit earlier this month. Fitting, then, that he used the stage to introduce what Apple is calling the biggest change to the iPhone in almost two decades.

The Duo uses a book-style folding design, closed it’s short, wide, and pocketable, but open it up and you get a full 7.6-inch internal display alongside a 5.4-inch outer screen for quick, on-the-go use. Both panels are Super Retina XDR OLED with ProMotion up to 120Hz, always-on support, and serious outdoor brightness. Apple says the unfolded screen is its largest iPhone display ever, offering roughly 50% more screen real estate than the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

Built Like a Tank, Folds Like Paper

The engineering here is the real headline for gadget nerds. The frame and hinge cover are Grade 5 titanium, with a mirror-polished body and a hinge made from over 100 individual components engineered to keep the screen flat when open and stress-free when folding. Apple leaned on its Vision Pro team to help pull it off, and it shows: unfolded, the Duo is just 5.2mm thick, making it the thinnest iPhone Apple has ever made. Folded, it’s a more familiar 11.3mm and weighs 254 grams.

One detail worth calling out: the inner display uses a nano-texture finish specifically designed to cut down on glare and make that dreaded foldable-phone crease far less noticeable. Early hands-on impressions suggest Apple may have actually solved the crease problem that’s plagued every other foldable on the market.

The Trade-Offs

A phone this new comes with some notable departures from the iPhone playbook. There’s no Face ID here, instead, Touch ID is built into the side power button. The rear camera system skips the telephoto lens found on the iPhone 18 Pro, sticking with a 48MP main and 48MP ultra-wide pairing. Under the hood, it runs the same A20 Pro chip found in the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, backed by a dual-battery system built for the two-screen design.

It’s also an eSIM-only device, and while Apple didn’t mention MagSafe on stage, the spec sheet confirms it’s still supported.

Price and Release Date

Here’s the part that might make you wince: the iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for the base 256GB model, climbing to roughly $3,000 for the 2TB configuration. That’s a real premium over the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which start at $1,199 and $1,299 respectively. For anyone not ready to pay upfront, Apple’s new Apple Upgrade leasing plan starts at $57.99 a month.

It comes in two colorways, Star White and Night Sky, and unlike the rest of the new iPhone lineup (which ships September 18), the Duo won’t hit shelves until Friday, October 23, in more than 70 countries.

Worth the Wait?

Apple took its time getting here, and it shows in the details, the titanium build, the nano-texture display, the hinge engineering. Whether it’s worth the price tag (or the trade-offs like no Face ID and no telephoto) is going to come down to how it actually feels to use day-to-day, and how that hinge holds up months from now. But as a first swing at a totally new iPhone category, the Duo is easily the most interesting thing Apple has shipped in years.

Will you be lining up for one in October, or sitting this generation out? Let us know in the comments.