Apple’s MacBook lineup is likely to grow from both ends. TrendForce expects the company’s notebook shipments to rise 7.7% in 2026, with the budget-friendly MacBook Neo alone reaching around 4-5 million units. The timing makes sense too – entry-level PCs are becoming more and more expensive as memory shortages grow in the industry. Now, the MacBook Ultra rumors suggest that Apple may be going in a different direction.
If Apple introduces a tier above the Pro lineup, it could end up being the most powerful and expensive MacBook yet. But that also begs the question — do power users need more than a MacBook Pro?
Apple is doing what Apple does—it’s moving up the market
Here’s my take on the hot spots that may disappoint the Apple faithful. The MacBook Ultra is less about giving users the power they already have the need and more about Apple’s deliberate march toward making everything premium. Think about it—they just dropped the last $599 MacBook Neo, and now they have a $3,500+ machine running.
OLED display—one feature I’m happy about
For all the rumours, the hybrid OLED display is an improvement that I find compelling. The technology combines a glass substrate with thin film encapsulation for improved brightness, contrast, and energy efficiency. I know how good Apple displays are already—but the OLED tandem on the iPad Pro is something else. It’s the kind of improvement you can’t see once you see it. Deeper blacks, richer colors, better power consumption—I’m in.
Touchscreen on MacBook: who exactly is this for?
A touchscreen in a clamshell laptop is an idea I’ve always wanted to get excited about and I just… can’t get there. macOS will adapt the tap menu bar item and expand it to larger, better-designed touch controls, says Mark Gurman. That sounds smart in a demo, but I’ve seen Windows touchscreen laptops full of crap so I know the optional input methods have a way of being mandatory bores.
I can see where touch input comes in handy. Think lighting designers who use touch-heavy console software, photographers who retouch the scene, or anyone who’s carried a separate iPad just to access the Apple Pencil. For some niche professionals, a touch-enabled MacBook with macOS can solve the problem. But for the rest of us—writers, coders, general professionals—it’s a feature we’ll pay for and never use.
My biggest concern has to do with thermal and structural limitations. The Touch Bar failed for a reason. Apple has a history of experimenting with laptop design ideas and then backtracking. I’m always skeptical of this adhesive.
Small design—the part that makes me cringe
Apple MacBook Pro with M5 Pro
There is a push to make the MacBook Ultra even thinner, delivering the same capabilities that gave us the Ultrathin iPad Pro. However, I am not on board with that. The MacBook Pro got stronger in 2021, and that wasn’t a mistake—it brought back ports, improved thermals, and made the machine work harder. Making it smaller raises some uncomfortable questions. What is offered? The battery? Air flow? MagSafe?
The 2015 MacBook Pro thinness test is still a scar on the collective memory of the public. If Apple gets to define itself with a smart OLED panel design without including a hole frame or thermal performance, great. But thinness as a selling point for a laptop placed over the Pro strikes me as a poor reading of consumer demand.
John Ternus (who will become Apple’s CEO in September) is in the middle of that argument. Employees and current Apple executives who have worked with him say that he has reshaped parts of Apple’s hardware system, moving it away from an era when thinness and polish often hurt performance and usability. And in that sense, the MacBook Ultra is a silent referendum on what Apple’s hardware identity is becoming.
Dynamic Island: ok, but not a reason to buy anything
Changing a note with the interactive Dynamic Island feels like a quality improvement in quality of life, especially since the current note literally goes into the menu bar. But let’s be honest—this is a cosmetic improvement dressed up as a feature. It’s not bad, it’s just not something that makes me open my wallet.
M6 chips—a component that lives up to the name
If there’s any conflict with calling this device “Ultra,” you might as well stay in silicon. The expected M6 Pro and M6 Max chips, built on TSMC’s 2nm process, promise tight integration of CPU, GPU, memory, and Neural Engine. That is true. Smaller processing nodes mean more performance per watt, and as AI workloads become relevant even for everyday tasks, a chip optimized for on-device AI processing matters.
My one caveat: if the chassis is as thin as rumored, those chips will be operating within tight thermal limits. An Ultra chip—one that would really justify the name—almost can’t fit into a MacBook’s thin body without some thermal shock. Physics doesn’t care about marketing copy.
The elephant in the room: price and time
A global memory chip shortage is pushing the release to early 2027 rather than late 2026. And the price? Estimates point north of $3,500 at the entry level. In context, the MacBook Pro M5 Max is already eye-watering—so the Ultra is essentially asking you to use more features that fans of the existing Pro lineup never asked for.
I expect the current models of the M5 Pro and M5 Max to be sold next to whatever MacBook Ultra becomes. That tells you everything. Apple doesn’t replace your favorite horse; they add a luxury class on top of it.
Before you leave
The MacBook Ultra, as rumored, seems to target two groups: people who want high-end display technology (OLED converters and visual professionals), and people who just want the most expensive Mac laptop that Apple makes. That’s a real market! But it’s not a pro machine to keep the word.
If you’re someone who pushes a laptop to its absolute limits for video editing, 3D work, or running local AI models—the MacBook Pro M5 Max or any M6 Pro host is probably the machine for you.
The MacBook Ultra looks like something like the Apple Watch Ultra of the laptop world: premium, well-built, and designed for people who want to be absolutely top of the list—not because they need to be.
Ideally, my M3 Air still handles everything I throw at it as a writer. But I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been watching this Ultra situation very closely.
Related: MacBook Neo vs. M5 MacBook Air: Here’s what changes when Apple uses a phone chip