Apple Ships Touchscreen MacBook Pro, Reversing a Jobs-Era Rejection

Apple reversed course on a view Steve Jobs once called "ergonomically terrible" and released a MacBook Pro built around a touch interface on Oct. 28, 2026. For more than a decade the company held to Jobs's position that touchscreen laptops make poor ergonomic sense. That position has now changed with a machine designed for fingers on the glass.

The 14-inch model carries a PROLED XDR display and weighs 3 pounds. The current non-touch MacBook Pro line begins at 3.4 pounds with the M6 models released earlier. The 16-inch touchscreen variant weighs 4 pounds against 4.7 pounds for the non-touch M5 Pro, and the weight difference is apparent when lifting the larger machine by one corner. Next to a current 16-inch MacBook Pro, the touchscreen machine sits slightly thinner with a marginally smaller footprint. Materials match those used in MacBook Pros of recent years.

The glowing Apple logo returns on the new lid. It drew an enthusiastic response from the audience during the introduction and restores a detail absent from a lineup that has looked utilitarian in recent years.

Touch behavior follows Apple's own conventions. Users can swipe to scroll, pinch to zoom, and double-tap to maximize a window inside Apple's apps. Third-party applications may require updates to use touch fully. macOS treats taps as clicks where an app lacks touch support, so existing software remains usable, though hitting a small target with a fingertip can prove fiddly. Apple has not said how many developers have shipped touch support.

The capability carries a price. The touchscreen OLED model starts at $2,899, which sits $400 above a similarly configured M5 Pro MacBook Pro. Apple has not published battery life, processor options, or release dates for the machine.