If you are considering whether to upgrade to the latest M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pro, you may be able to bear with it after hearing this news. Bloomberg’s well-known Apple whistleblower Mark Gurman According to the latest report, Apple is developing a new flagship laptop that is positioned higher than the existing MacBook Pro, which may be named MacBook Ultra, expected to be Early 2027 Officially published. This will be the most significant product update since Apple launched the first redesigned MacBook Pro equipped with M1 Pro/Max chips in 2021.
Apple is rumored to be developing “MacBook Ultra”, which will be launched in early 2027
Gurman revealed that the new MacBook Ultra will bring Six major upgrades, covering display technology, appearance design, human-computer interaction to core chips, the following is a possible update analysis.
① The first OLED screen MacBook
The most anticipated upgrade of MacBook Ultra is that it will become Apple’s The first MacBook with an OLED panel. The current MacBook Pro uses a Mini LED backlit LCD screen. Although it already has excellent brightness and contrast performance, OLED will bring about a leap forward:More vivid colors, higher contrast, and true black display(Pixel-level independent light emission, no light leakage).
This means that when watching HDR content and editing photos and videos, the visual experience will reach a whole new level. Another benefit of the OLED panel is the thickness advantage – no backlight module is required, allowing the body to be further thinned.
② Goodbye “bangs”, here comes the dynamic island
Since the 2021 MacBook Pro introduced the “Notch” design at the top of the screen, this has been one of the most controversial designs of the MacBook. Gurman says MacBook Ultra will Change the bangs to a hole-punch camera design (similar to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island), and further narrow the screen borders. Not only is the dynamic island less visually obtrusive than bangs, it can also provide more flexible UI feedback in system interaction scenarios such as low battery reminders and headphone connections.
③ Touch screen MacBook finally comes true
Another historic change is:MacBook Ultra will be equipped with touch screen functionality。
This will break the “gorilla arm” question raised by the late Apple founder Steve Jobs about touch laptops – Apple has insisted on the line that “iPad is a touch device” for many years. However, as the boundaries between iPadOS and macOS gradually blurred, and users’ demand for touch operations increased, Apple finally decided to add touch functions to MacBook, allowing users to directly control the screen with their fingers to assist the original keyboard and trackpad operations.
④ Thinner and lighter body, but retains I/O interface
Benefiting from the thinness of the OLED panel, the MacBook Ultra’s body design will Thinner and lighter. But the good news for professional users is:Common interfaces such as HDMI, MagSafe magnetic charging, and SD card slots will not be removed.. Apple clearly understands the needs of professional creators and developers for physical ports, and has not sacrificed scalability for the sake of extreme thinness and lightness.
⑤ M6 Pro / M6 Max: TSMC 2nm process generation
MacBook Ultra is expected to be equipped with M6 Pro and M6 Max chips,use TSMC 2nm process Build. Compared with the current 3nm process of the M5 series, 2nm will bring greater improvements in performance and energy efficiency. This means that under the same power consumption, the new chip can provide stronger computing performance; or conversely, it can save more power under the same performance, which is particularly important for mobile creators who need to work outside for a long time.
⑥ Apple develops its own 5G networking chip
The last major update is in communications capabilities. MacBook Ultra is expected Built-in Apple’s self-developed C1X or C2 baseband chip, supports 5G and LTE mobile networks. In recent years, MacBooks have lacked built-in mobile network options. Users must share the iPhone hotspot or connect an external USB network card to connect to the Internet. If MacBook Ultra really adds a 5G module, it will be a great boon for business people and journalists who often need to work in environments without Wi-Fi.
Naming Strategy Thoughts: Why Ultra?
Gurman mentioned that Apple may adopt 「MacBook Ultra」 As the market name of the new machine, rather than continuing the Pro name. This is consistent with the naming logic of the Apple Silicon era:
- MacBook Air → Thin and light entry
- MacBook Pro → Professional standards
- MacBook Ultra →Flagship high-end
It’s like having the Apple Watch Ultra as the highest-end model in the Apple Watch lineup. MacBook Ultra will be differentiated from MacBook Pro and positioned at “professional creators, developers and high-end users who pursue ultimate performance,” similar to the relationship between Mac Pro and Mac Studio.
When will it be released?
Gurman predicts MacBook Ultra will Early 2027 The official debut was earlier than originally expected. It is worth noting that this product does not wait until the end of the existing MacBook Pro generation to launch, but may directly add a new product line while the current M5 MacBook Pro is still on the market, showing Apple’s confidence in this flagship product.
The most important Mac products of 2021
Since the 2021 M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro redefined the notebook performance benchmark, Apple’s updates to the Mac product line have mostly focused on chip iterations (M2, M3, M4, M5), while maintaining the same vocabulary in appearance design. If MacBook Ultra adds OLED, touch screen, 2nm chip and 5G connection as rumored, it will be the largest product definition update in recent years.
For users who are considering buying a MacBook Pro, it may be worth waiting for the arrival of this flagship. That is, of course, if you’re willing to wait until early 2027.
Source: KOCPC Chinese