Apple is on the verge of doing something it resisted for almost twenty years: putting a touchscreen on a MacBook Pro. Reports ahead of the company’s “Pro and Tell” event in Los Angeles on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, say the first touchscreen MacBook Pro models will be unveiled tonight, with OLED displays, a Dynamic Island and prices that push Apple’s laptop range to a new high.
The event began at 10 a.m. local time in Los Angeles, which is 10 p.m. in Pakistan. Apple has already had a busy week: it announced a new OLED iPad mini on 26 October and a refreshed 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6 chip and a new iMac on 27 October. The touchscreen models are reported to be the headline act saved for tonight, and pre-orders are expected to open the same day.
Here is everything that is reported so far about Apple’s first touchscreen MacBook Pro, what it will cost, when it could go on sale, and what it means for buyers in Pakistan.
What Apple is expected to announce tonight
According to reports, Apple will introduce new 14-inch and 16-inch high-end MacBook Pro models with touch-enabled OLED displays. The new machines will not replace the existing MacBook Pro line. Instead, they will sit above it as premium options, while the current non-touch models stay on sale alongside them.
That positioning matters. Apple already refreshed the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro this week with its new M6 chip, starting at $1,999 in the United States. The touchscreen models are a separate, more expensive tier aimed at a different buyer: content creators, video editors, designers and media professionals, who are reported to be the main target audience for the launch in Los Angeles.
The touchscreen MacBook Pro has been one of the most requested features among Mac users for years. Reports say the project was given the green light about four years ago, after Apple’s leadership concluded that touchscreens had become standard on premium laptops from other makers. The new machines were overseen by John Ternus, who now leads Apple as chief executive after previously running its hardware engineering.
OLED touchscreen display and Dynamic Island
The biggest change is the screen itself. The new MacBook Pros are reported to feature OLED XDR touch displays, a first for the Mac. OLED panels offer deeper blacks, higher contrast and more vivid colours than the mini-LED displays used in current MacBook Pros, and they can also be brighter.
The displays are also reported to carry a Dynamic Island element instead of the notch found on current MacBook Pros. The Dynamic Island, already familiar from recent iPhones, is a pill-shaped cut-out at the top of the screen that can show live activity and controls. Thinner bezels around the display are also expected, giving the machines a more modern face.
Apple has spent years arguing that touchscreens do not belong on a laptop, saying that reaching up to a vertical screen is tiring and that the keyboard and trackpad are better tools for a Mac. The reported arrival of a touchscreen MacBook Pro is therefore a major reversal, and one of the most significant design shifts in the MacBook Pro’s history.
A new hinge, cooling system and lighter design
Making a touchscreen laptop work is not just about the panel. Reports say Apple has redesigned the hinge so the display does not wobble or move when it is tapped, a problem that has held back touchscreens on other laptops. The cooling system has also been reworked, with airflow routed through the hinge, which helps reduce weight and improve cooling at the same time.
Beyond the display, the revamped MacBook Pros are reported to keep the general appearance of the current models, but with a slightly slimmer design and a noticeably lighter body. Those changes matter for a machine that is often carried between studios, offices and shoots, and they suggest Apple has treated this as a full redesign rather than a simple screen swap.
Under the hood, the first touchscreen models are reported to use the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips introduced earlier this year, rather than the newer M6 Pro or M6 Max. Reports say Apple plans to skip an M6 Pro generation for these machines and move straight to M7 Pro and M7 Max versions next autumn, alongside a lower-priced M7 MacBook Pro using the new design.
macOS Golden Gate: touch-friendly software
Hardware is only half the story. Reports say the touchscreen MacBook Pros will run a new version of macOS, codenamed Golden Gate, with touch-specific controls. These are said to include dial-like menus that appear around the user’s finger, making on-screen controls easier to tap without hunting through menus.
Importantly, Apple is reported to be marketing touch as an option, not a replacement. The keyboard and trackpad will remain the primary ways of using the machine, with touch offered as an extra input for tasks where tapping, scrolling or pinching feels natural, such as scrubbing through a video timeline or zooming into a photo.
That approach fits Apple’s long-standing position. The company has always said the Mac is built around precise pointer control, and the reported software design keeps that idea intact while finally giving users the choice that Windows laptop buyers have had for years.
Price, pre-orders and what it means for buyers in Pakistan
Price is where the new models will divide opinion. Reports say Apple has discussed a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch touchscreen model with an M5 Pro chip, which would be $400 more than the current 14-inch M5 Pro version. The 16-inch model is expected to start at $3,399 or more, since the current non-touch 16-inch model already starts at $2,999.
At $2,899, the 14-inch model would carry the highest starting price of any new MacBook Pro ever, above the $2,799 charged for a 17-inch model back in 2006. Pre-orders are reported to open on Wednesday, alongside the new iPad mini, M6 MacBook Pro and M6 iMac, with the touchscreen models possibly going on sale as early as 6 November, the same date as the other new products.
For buyers in Pakistan, no local price has been announced yet, and the US figures should be treated as a starting point only. Apple products in Pakistan are sold through resellers and the grey market, so the final street price will depend on import costs, currency rates and retailer margins, and it will almost certainly be higher than a straight currency conversion of $2,899. Readers can compare current local pricing in our MacBook prices in Pakistan guide, and see how the new touchscreen models differ from this week’s M6 refresh in our M6 MacBook Pro and iMac launch report.
The key question for most buyers will be whether touch is worth the premium. If you already own a recent MacBook Pro, the touchscreen models offer a new way of working rather than a raw speed jump, since they are reported to use the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips as current machines. But for creators who have waited years for a Mac they can tap, tonight’s announcement ends one of Apple’s longest-running “never” positions, and it sets up a much wider Mac overhaul, with new MacBook Air models and a Mac Studio with an M7 Ultra chip reported for 2027 and 2028.
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