Apple Unveils Touch-Screen MacBook Pro, Reversing Long-Held Jobs Stance

After two decades of spurning the idea, Apple Inc. unveiled an overhauled MacBook Pro that includes a touch screen, giving its flagship laptop a feature that has become a must-have in the personal computer industry.

The thinner and lighter machine, which comes in 14- and 16-inch sizes, is also the first Mac with OLED — short for organic light-emitting diode — a display technology used on recent iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices. It’s also the first Mac with a Dynamic Island, the screen element familiar to iPhone users.

The computer has a redesigned software interface optimized for touch and is offered with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The 14-inch version is priced from $2,899, while the 16-inch model starts at $3,399. A maxed-out version with 16 terabytes of storage and 128 gigabytes of memory costs $14,549.

Johny Srouji, Apple’s chief hardware officer, called the new machine a “monumental step forward for the Mac.” It was introduced on stage by new Chief Executive Officer John Ternus, who took the reins from Tim Cook last month.

Customers have been prodding the company for years to embrace touch displays, which the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch helped popularize. But Apple had to overcome some deep-seated opposition that has existed for nearly two decades.

Co-founder Steve Jobs famously lambasted touch Macs in the later stages of his career, once calling them “ergonomically terrible.” Cook, his successor, said combining a laptop and tablet would be like merging a fridge and toaster. Other company executives laughed at the idea in interviews.

But about four years ago Cook and Ternus became proponents of ditching past orthodoxy and moving to a touch display on the MacBook Pro, Bloomberg News has reported. The hope is to give the Mac new momentum and raise revenue with higher prices driven by more premium features.

Still, Apple is releasing the new machines at a turbulent time for the laptop market. Higher memory chip prices have increased computer prices and hurt demand, sending the industry into a downward spiral. Global PC shipments tumbled 20% in the third quarter, according to researcher IDC. Apple suffered its own decline in the period, though it wasn’t as severe as the industry average.

The new 14-inch MacBook Pro weighs 3 pounds, down from 3.5 on the non-touch model, while the 16-inch version now comes in at 4 pounds. That’s down from 4.7 pounds on the prior generation. It also has an Apple logo that lights up on the back, marking the return of an old feature.

Bloomberg News first reported in January 2023 on Apple’s plans to bring touch screens to the MacBook Pro and subsequently detailed the new displays, software interface, processors, pricing and design changes.

Earlier this week, Apple launched a new low-end MacBook Pro with an M6 chip and 14-inch screen, an updated iMac and an overhauled iPad mini with an OLED screen and higher price. The launches cap a strong new product year for Apple, which put the iPhone Duo on sale last Friday.