🚀 Science
Apple unveils its first touchscreen laptops, ending a 16-year holdout
In 60 seconds: Apple unveiled its first touchscreen laptops on Wednesday: new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with an OLED display that responds to touch. Shown by chief executive John Ternus in Los Angeles, they run on M5 Pro and M5 Max chips and start at $2,899. Pre-orders opened the same day and sales begin on 6 November. Steve Jobs had called touchscreen laptops 'ergonomically terrible' in 2010.
Why it matters
Apple long kept laptops and touch apart. Its U-turn shows how phones and tablets have changed what people expect from every screen, and it puts pressure on rival laptop makers.
Explain it simply
A tea stall owner who once said 'only cutting chai, no fancy flavours' finally adds masala chai because every customer asks for it. Apple has done the same with touch.
The 3-minute read
What happened
Apple calls the screen a 'PROLED XDR' OLED display with touch built into it. It is lighter and thinner than before, and the 16-inch model is 0.7 pounds lighter than the older non-touch version. The top 16-inch M5 Max model starts at $4,799.
Background
In 2012 Apple's then-CEO Tim Cook compared touchscreen laptops to a toaster-refrigerator combination. Other makers moved ahead anyway: IDC says 33.4 million touchscreen notebooks were shipped in 2025, 16% of all notebooks.
How it works
OLED screens can suffer 'burn-in', where a still image leaves a faint mark. Apple says it redesigned the body to pull warm air away from the display and uses the M5 chip to keep the screen refreshed.
What's next
Sales begin on 6 November. Analysts will watch whether the high price limits sales, since rival touchscreen laptops sold for about $1,009 on average in 2025.
What it means for you
If you are buying a laptop, compare touchscreen models on price and battery life; touch is now available across many brands.
Key numbers
- $2,899: Starting price (14-inch, M5 Pro)
- 6 Nov: Date sales begin
- 120Hz: Screen refresh rate
- 33.4 million: Touchscreen notebooks shipped worldwide in 2025 (IDC)
Both sides
- Some analysts: Apple was wrong to resist touch for so long, and users who grew up on phones and tablets will welcome it.
- Other analysts: The high price limits gains in a market dominated by businesses buying cheaper laptops from Lenovo, HP and Dell.
Key terms explained
- OLED display
- A screen in which every pixel gives off its own light, giving deep blacks and high contrast.
- Pre-order
- Booking and often paying for a product before it goes on sale.
The story so far
- 2010: Steve Jobs calls touchscreens on laptops 'ergonomically terrible'. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs argued that reaching up to touch a laptop screen was uncomfortable. Apple kept touch for the iPhone and the iPad instead.
- Sept 2026: John Ternus becomes Apple's chief executive. John Ternus, a longtime Apple hardware executive, became CEO at the start of September 2026.
- Today: Apple unveils first touchscreen MacBook Pro; sales from 6 Nov
Exam notes (UPSC, SSC, Banking, PSC)
- OLED stands for Organic Light-Emitting Diode; each pixel makes its own light, so no backlight is needed.
- A 120Hz refresh rate means the screen redraws its image 120 times every second.
- Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.
- The India Semiconductor Mission was launched in December 2021 to build a chip-making and display ecosystem in India.
Likely exam question: What is an OLED display, and how is it different from an LCD screen?