The 14-inch and 16-inch models, announced on Wednesday, 28 October, combine touch-enabled OLED displays with M5 Pro and M5 Max processors. Pre-orders opened immediately, with availability scheduled for 6 November. The 14-inch touchscreen model starts at $2,899 in the United States.
The introduction marks a significant departure from Apple’s earlier insistence that touch interaction belonged on handheld devices rather than vertically positioned laptop screens. Jobs argued in 2010 that reaching towards a computer display was uncomfortable over extended periods, favouring keyboards, mice and trackpads for Mac computers.
Apple has retained those conventional controls while adding touch as another option. Users can scroll through webpages, enlarge photographs with two fingers, reposition windows and move material between applications directly on the display. The company says its redesigned hinge improves stability when users press the screen.
The touch sensor is integrated into the display panel rather than attached as a separate layer, an arrangement Apple says reduces response delays. The new macOS 27 operating system supports touch gestures, while existing applications can respond through automatic conversion of screen touches into mouse clicks.
Professional users are a particular focus. Designers can draw across the display, musicians can operate virtual instruments and video editors can manipulate clips directly on screen. Apple has also introduced programming interfaces intended to help developers adapt applications for finger-based interaction.
Johny Srouji, Apple’s chief hardware officer, described the addition of touch alongside the new display and processors as a major change in how professionals could work with their content. The company is positioning touch as a complement to established Mac controls, not a replacement for them.
The laptops feature Apple’s PROLED XDR display, using tandem organic light-emitting diode technology. Apple specifies peak brightness of 2,000 nits for both standard and high-dynamic-range content, a contrast ratio of 10 million to one and an adaptive refresh rate reaching 120Hz. The screens support P3 and Adobe RGB colour spaces, important for photography and video production.
The new machines also incorporate Dynamic Island, the interactive display feature previously associated with iPhones. On the Mac it provides access to Spotlight search, live notifications and Siri AI, allowing users to reach certain functions without navigating through separate windows.
Apple says battery life can reach 24 hours, depending on usage. The redesigned 14-inch model weighs approximately three pounds, while its larger counterpart weighs four pounds. Both are lighter than their predecessors, with revised cooling systems designed to sustain performance inside slimmer cases.
Configurations support up to 128GB of unified memory and 16TB of storage. Connectivity includes Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, an SDXC card reader and MagSafe charging. The machines also support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, alongside a 12-megapixel camera and an upgraded speaker system.
The change arrives as touchscreen notebooks have become established across competing computer brands. Research firm IDC estimates that 33.4 million touchscreen notebooks shipped worldwide in 2025, representing approximately 16 per cent of total notebook shipments. Its forecasts suggest the proportion could reach 20 per cent by 2030.
Those figures also underline the pricing challenge. Many touchscreen Windows laptops serve business and education buyers at considerably lower prices. Apple’s new models instead target customers prepared to pay more for specialist displays, computing performance and integration with its software ecosystem.
IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo has indicated that Apple’s entry may have limited immediate effect on rival manufacturers because their touchscreen products often address different price segments. Nevertheless, the addition settles a longstanding question about whether Apple would bring touch input to its traditional laptop format.
The company has not presented the computer as a detachable tablet or convertible device. Its traditional clamshell design remains fully intact, distinguishing the product from hybrid laptops that fold or separate into tablet configurations.
The launch follows Apple’s introduction of a separate 14-inch MacBook Pro equipped with the M6 processor on 27 October. That machine remains distinct from the higher-end touchscreen models, which use M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.
Apple says compatible applications include Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Adobe Lightroom, DaVinci Resolve and Blender. Its own Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro software also includes controls designed for the new touch display.
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