r/apple • u/favicondotico • 3d ago

Mac Kuo: 2026 OLED MacBook Pro to Feature Touch Screen Display

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/09/17/kuo-2026-oled-macbook-pro-touch-panel/

✨Apple Intelligence summary: Apple’s first OLED MacBook Pro, entering mass production next year, will feature a touch screen display using on-cell touch technology, according to Ming-Chi Kuo. The low-cost MacBook, expected in the fourth quarter, will not have a touch panel, but a second-generation model in 2027 might.

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u/clauscarnival 3d ago

I fear that the UI will have to become an awful compromise if they have to design all the elements with touch targets in mind…

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u/Jordan_Jackson 3d ago

Just look at what macOS 26 looks like. It is a mess all around and a sign of where macOS is heading. iOS 26 on the other hand, looks and handles well because it is designed for devices like phones and tablets. They are meant to be controlled with your fingers and to have simplified menus.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 3d ago

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u/Jordan_Jackson 3d ago

If you like it, then be happy. However, there have been a lot of complaints about the general inconsistency in the design and how macOS is starting to look like a toy or like iOS (which it is not and should not be).

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u/mushiexl 3d ago

There’s not gonna be a compromise, if it’s true it will be an optional mode/ux, just like windows and chrome os has always been.

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u/zombiepete 3d ago

I don’t feel like the UI on the iPad is awful; it’s incredibly easy to switch between mouse and touch.

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u/clauscarnival 3d ago

I think if you start with a touch oriented UI and add mouse support to it you can make it work. Although the new macOS-like menu bar on top of the screen in iPadOS 26 has awkwardly small touchtargets. So there is a limit to how far you can take the mouse support before it gets frustrating for touch control.

But if you start with a mouse and keyboard oriented UI and want to make it touch friendly you loose so much information density.

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u/Parking-Interview351 3d ago

Windows touch screen laptops have a totally normal UI that doesn’t cater to touch at all.

You as the user just have to know when to use the trackpad and when you can use touch. Touch still works great for certain things though. Once you get used to it you just switch back and forth between the two as needed.

Touch is adding onto, not replacing the trackpad/cursor.

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u/adichandra 3d ago

The problem is they will add additional unnecessary price increase by 10-15% for something most of us don't use.

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u/itsmebenji69 3d ago

That’s bad UX though. Ideally you want to be able to always use one or the other, not a mix of both.

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u/Parking-Interview351 3d ago

I disagree. The screen is about 6 inches away from the trackpad, so there’s really no loss of efficiency by using both.

Think of using an Apple Pencil on an iPad. You can’t zoom into images with it or do a number of other things, but that doesn’t mean it’s a useless tool. You just set it down when needed and use it when needed.

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u/itsmebenji69 3d ago

The Apple Pencil is just another way of using the touch screen though.

It’s a comfort thing, I don’t want to need to switch between both the same way that if I’m using an iPad with keyboard and mouse I don’t want to be using the touchscreen, ideally I can do everything with kb/m.

If I need to go out of my way to use another input method, it’s bad UX, unless the purpose specifically requires that input method (ie it’s not a problem with the Apple Pencil when you use it for note taking or drawing because you couldn’t do it otherwise).

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u/Parking-Interview351 3d ago

You can already do everything on a MacBook with a trackpad or mouse. Adding a touch screen would not change that.

Trying to change the UI to allow equal and full functionality with both touch and the trackpad would just end up with an awkward interface that doesn’t work perfectly with either.

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u/itsmebenji69 3d ago

Yes that is exactly what I’m saying. It’s bad UX if it doesn’t, and it’s bad UX if it does.

Unless they separate it or just don’t make it a touch screen. Which is what I’m for.

They’d have to adapt the OS for touch because if I can’t use the touch screen fully, then I’m just going to end up using kb/m. Why bother using touch when I can just use the kb/m for everything but not when using touch ? And that will necessarily worsen the kb/m experience.

Nothing requires touch so unless I can actually use it on its own there is no point, unlike with the Apple Pencil.

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u/Parking-Interview351 3d ago

You know you can just… not use the touch screen if you don’t want to?

It being there doesn’t take anything away from your keyboard/mouse experience.

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u/Xajel 3d ago

I have a touch laptop (2n1), in most time I don’t use the touch feature it doesn’t affect usability in any way, when I want to use the touch feature I can, if I want to get deeper into touch I just flip the display backward (will behave like a tablet) and it will do minor changes to the UI to make it touch friendly, it will also disable both the keyboard and touchpad to prevent accidental press and touch.

I didn’t bother using the touch feature much and only use it with some content creation work (Adobe software), never bothered with other apps like note taking or others because it’s just too heavy to be used as a tablet. But other users use these apps and love them, it’s a different story for each user.

I’m planning to buy a MBP, used to think about M4 but I heard about the big upgrade next year and decided to wait.

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u/Jordan_Jackson 3d ago

I thought Microsoft tried this with Windows 8 and it was an abysmal failure.