Apple has introduced its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, ending years of resistance to touch-enabled laptop displays and marking one of the most significant changes to the company's professional notebook lineup.
The new models were announced on Wednesday, October 28, at Apple's product event in Los Angeles.
Available in 14-inch and 16-inch configurations, the redesigned MacBook Pro introduces a tandem OLED screen branded PROLED XDR, alongside Apple's M5 Pro and M5 Max processors.
The company also brings Dynamic Island, previously associated with the iPhone, to the Mac for the first time.
Apple says the new display supports touch gestures, allowing users to scroll, zoom, interact with creative applications and manipulate onscreen elements directly.
The touch sensor is integrated into the display panel rather than placed in a separate layer above it.
The company says this approach reduces latency and makes touch interactions more responsive.
The change represents a significant departure from Apple's traditional position that laptop interaction should rely primarily on a keyboard and trackpad.
Touchscreens have long been available on competing Windows laptops, but Apple had resisted bringing the feature to its MacBook range.
The new models retain conventional keyboard and trackpad controls, allowing users to choose how they interact with applications.
Apple has also redesigned the laptop's hinge to provide greater stability during touch use.
The PROLED XDR display uses tandem OLED technology, with Apple advertising brightness of up to 2,000 nits, a 120Hz variable refresh rate and a contrast ratio of 10 million to one.
Those figures are manufacturer specifications and should not be presented as independently measured performance results.
The display also supports wider colour reproduction, including P3 and Adobe RGB, targeting photographers, designers, video editors and other creative professionals.
The redesigned MacBook Pro is thinner and lighter than its predecessor.
Apple says the 14-inch model weighs approximately three pounds, while the 16-inch version weighs about four pounds.
The company also claims battery life of up to 24 hours under specified testing conditions.
Actual battery performance will vary according to workload, display settings and usage.
The new laptops are powered by Apple's M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, which the company says deliver improvements in processing, graphics and artificial-intelligence workloads.
Configurations support up to 128GB of unified memory and as much as 16TB of storage.
The models also include Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, HDMI, an SD card slot, MagSafe charging, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
The introduction of touch support has implications for software developers and creative applications.
Apple says its own professional software, including Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro, has been adapted to take advantage of direct screen interaction.
Third-party developers will also be able to introduce touch-specific controls using updated system tools.
The new MacBook Pro runs macOS 27 and includes Apple's expanded Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features.
Apple is positioning the device as a premium professional computer rather than a mass-market touchscreen laptop.
In the United States, the 14-inch model starts at $2,899, while the 16-inch version starts at $3,399.
Preorders opened on October 28, with availability scheduled to begin on November 6.
Those are US starting prices. Nigerian retail pricing, import charges and local availability have not been independently established.
Reuters reported that the launch could test whether Apple can attract buyers accustomed to touchscreen laptops while maintaining its premium pricing strategy.
The introduction also comes amid intensifying competition among computer manufacturers to integrate artificial intelligence and more advanced display technologies.
For Apple's Mac business, the decision to introduce touch represents a substantial shift in product philosophy.
Whether the feature becomes widely adopted by professional users will depend on software support, usability and the value customers place on the higher-priced hardware.
The confirmed development is Apple's official launch of its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, with orders now open and commercial availability scheduled for November 6.
