Apple’s MacBook Ultra ditches the Ultra chip
Apple’s Upcoming Touchscreen MacBook Features and Specifications
Apple’s first touchscreen MacBook, anticipated to be its most ambitious laptop yet, is set to include several notable features. It will feature an OLED screen, a redesigned chassis, and a Dynamic Island interface similar to that found on the iPhone. However, sources indicate that the internal chip may not meet expectations. According to a Bloomberg report by Mark Gurman, the high-end variant, likely named the ‘MacBook Ultra,’ will be powered by Apple’s existing M5 Pro and M5 Max processors rather than the next-generation chips that many anticipated for such a significant launch.
So early buyers get the design, the OLED panel, and the touchscreen first—but the chip that makes this lineup interesting on paper lands a year later. For anyone weighing a purchase, that’s the real question: pay flagship money now, or hold out for the silicon Apple built this whole strategy around.
The device is on track to arrive between late this year and early 2027, available in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, internally code-named K114 and K116. It’s also expected to cost more than the M5 Pro MacBook Pro, which already starts at $1,999 after Apple’s recent price hikes. The M7 line is the one designed for serious AI work—upgraded neural accelerators, beefier graphics, and a jump in memory bandwidth from the M5’s 153 GB/s toward roughly 240 GB/s on the base part. Apple is already testing a follow-up touchscreen model running M7 Pro and M7 Max, reportedly planned for as early as the end of 2027.
It marks Apple’s first-ever touchscreen Mac, an idea the company spent years publicly dismissing.