The next major redesign of the MacBook Pros has been highly anticipated since those upcoming laptops are expected to feature tandem OLED displays like the M4/M5 iPad Pro. Along with the more advanced display technology, we can also expect a thinner design, cellular connectivity for the first time (thanks to using Apple’s own cellular modems), and a Dynamic Island (hole-punch camera design) in place of the notch. Apple just updated the base 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 chip, and the M5 Pro/Max models are expected to come out early next year as “stop-gap” products with the same current design. Apple is reserving this redesign for the M6 series of MacBook Pro models. However, don’t expect this redesign to come to all models that Apple will sell because according to today’s edition of Mark Gurman’s Powered On newsletter, the major design overhaul could be exclusive to only the M6 Pro/Max models.
If you think about it, this should come as no surprise given the history of the MacBook Pro models. Since October 2016, Apple has been offering three MacBook Pro models:
- A lower-end smaller-screen model with lower-end chips
- A higher-end smaller-screen model with higher-end chips
- A larger-screen model with higher-end chips
When Apple redesigned the MacBook Pro back in October 2016 with a controversial design that did away with all the legacy ports and featured the butterfly keyboard, one of the biggest features that came with the redesign was the Touch Bar; however, Apple kept that feature exclusive to the higher-end 13-inch and 15-inch models, so Apple had the lower-end 13-inch model with function keys for a few years until Apple eventually brought the Touch Bar to the lower-end 13-inch model.
Apple started its transition to Apple Silicon for the Mac lineup in November 2020, and one of the first Mac models introduced was the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1. The higher-end MacBook Pro models didn’t transition to Apple Silicon until October 2021, when Apple introduced the 14-inch and 16-inch M1 Pro/Max chips, which also brought a new design with mini-LED displays. The lower-end MacBook Pro with the base M-series chip was stuck with the older design until Apple introduced the M3 family of chips, and Apple finally brought that mini-LED redesign to the base M3 14-inch model.
Currently, the MacBook Pro lineup consists of three variants:
- 14-inch model with the base M-series chip and one fan
- 14-inch model with the M-series Pro/Max chips and two fans
- 16-inch model with the M-series Pro/Max chips and two fans
So we could expect the same pattern with this upcoming OLED redesign, where Apple will introduce a significant design overhaul on the M6 Pro/Max models, and the base M6 model will retain the current design that we have today. Down the road, perhaps the M8 iteration for those models, Apple will bring that newer design to the base M8 model.
It’s safe to say that Apple has a huge rollout of Mac models going into next year:
- First half of 2026: M5 Pro/Max models for MacBook Pro, M5 MacBook Air, highly-rumored “budget” MacBook with A18 Pro
- Middle of 2026: M5/M5 Pro Mac mini & M5 Max/M5 Ultra Mac Studio
- Second half of 2026: MacBook Pro with base M6 chip
We’ll likely have to wait until late 2026/early 2027 for those OLED MacBook Pro models to debut.
