MacBook Pro Likely to Get OLED Display and Thinner Design in 2026

[Wanted797]

Give me more power over thinner and lighter any day.

If you need more power than the current M4 Max you're probably reaching the point you should just buy a desktop.

Thinner is likely attributed to the fact OLED is inherently thinner.

 

[GuilleA]

Shave .5 off the screen, that's pretty much what they'll do. Maybe replace the notch with a Dynamic Island.

 

[xxFoxtail]

Might be a good time for me to upgrade from my M2 MBA. I hope it has Face ID. I’d like a Dynamic Island too.

 

[chrono1081]

Don't try to gaslight me.

I'm not, it's fact. Literally look at the history of electronics.

 

[sleeptodream]

Fully agree! However Apple is not acting in a vacuum. They have to consider the market trends, available materials and suppliers as well as the competition. The deeper you go into that "luxury niche", the smaller your target market. And reliance on an increasingly smaller number of potential customers can become dangerous.

So even the luxury feeling of Apple products is (and has to be) limited, which means that some compromises are inevitable.


I can only compare a late 2013 15" MBP and an M3 Pro 16". If anything, the M3 seems a tad more solid than the old one. Especially the keyboard seems to contribute to that impression. I liked the tapered design especially on the old MBA's, but I understand that it brings some additional effort (cost!), when you e.g. have to place terraced batteries inside.

As written above - Apple needs to stay connected to some standards, suppliers and materials for various reasons. They are not set up to produce tiny numbers of products manufacture-style, where you can mostly ignore costs, while serving a (super) luxury niche.


So far the reduction in weight and thickness because of using OLED panels is a rumor. If weight and thickness are reduced without affecting the structural integrity, I think most would accept and welcome that.

However, while pursuing that path, errors happen - even with Apple. Remember e.g. the iPhone "bendgates". But because of the latter, I would expect Apple having learned about that and designing a thinner lid or device in a way that structural integrity stays the same - or maybe even improves, if the changes allow for a general redesign.

If you want to change existing products, you are facing costs for re-tooling, tests etc. But if you go for a new product anyway, there is little _added_ cost for a structural redesign, as it's part of the routine anyway.

As for OLED screens: Yes, the danger of burn-in is real. I think that Apple's engineers are aware of that. So imho either they do know of technological advances in (OLED) screen technology that would reduce / minimize that risk even for mostly static content (as it's usual for a computer screen). Or they are faced with external constraints, pushing them towards OLED:

For example, the luxury feel you mentioned. This leads to Apple customers expecting high end tech from Apple. How often are the forums filled with complaints that competitor X has introduced a technology Y and Apple did not. They would be accused of dragging their feet, while still charging premium prices.

OLED seems to be the new fad in display technology. Well, maybe not even a fad - its advantages are for real and clearly visible. When I compare my OLED TV with the Mini-LED screen on my iPad, the iPad clearly loses. The difference is so obvious, it's not even funny anymore.

Thus going OLED in a future MBP is required, as Apple promotes the MBP as video machine more than anything else. And the research on Micro LED did not progress as Apple had expected. Therefore they now need to embrace OLED - despite all of its shortcoming - until something better is available.


Well - see my satirical post higher above. Even pro users welcome improvements in terms of e.g. weight. I still remember the outcry when Apple introduced the Unibody design, because they left out the Ethernet port. But the advantages of the Unibody case were tangible in comparison to the older gen MBP's / Powerbooks.

Material savings and less packaging volume and weight due to an even thinner MBP should lead to cost savings for Apple, which might be required to counter the increased cost for going OLED.

As written above, Apple is not acting in a vacuum, so maybe there are forced to go OLED and now have to find ways to make the best of the situation and try to keep impact on cost and customers as low as possible.

Guess it wouldn't be too far-fetched to consider the coming OLED generation of MBP's like a typical first gen Apple product, which still has some kinks that need ironing out in further revisions.

Eh idk, Apple shouldn’t have to follow market trends though, they are the trend setters. If they wanted to continue to use LCD they could just be honest about the rationale for that decision, and expound on the pros of LCD vs OLED for the use case. OLED makes sense on TVs, it makes sense on iPhones and iPads, it doesn’t make sense for a desktop computing paradigm. Just tell people that.

Old Apple would not cave to what everyone else in the market is doing. They would use the best technology for the use case and just let some people complain about it. Even now they obviously don’t care that their mouse is ridiculed constantly, for instance. They keep it the way it is because it’s elegant.

Apple didn’t used to care about keeping up with the Joneses in terms of technology, they were about creating the best user experience. Steve used to say they started with what they could do for the user, and worked backwards to the technology.

I really hope it’s just a rumor, I don’t think they should sacrifice LCD screens on their professional computers, where many people are using apps with static UIs on a daily basis for work, so that the latest Marvel movie can look 5% better for the people buying them to consume content…

It’s not just about burn in either, in applications where color accuracy matters OLED is not ideal unless you’re constantly recalibrating the monitor to account for the color balance shifting throughout it’s lifespan. And you also have the people that are sensitive to PWM…

Hopefully if anything they make it optional the way the nano texture displays are, but with how tightly Tim runs the ship idk if i can see them doubling the SKUs for two different displays, unless they added a huge premium for one of them

 

[dwaite]

Why can’t we get this in 2025. iPads got oled in early 2024, does it really take almost 3 years to just add it to Mac’s?

The MBP is on a five year design refresh. Apple is secretive about plans, but also boringly predictable when supply chain or upstream manufacturer issues don't get in the way.

 

[arobert3434]

I hope they can make it as thin and light as the 2019 Intel model I'm still waiting to replace. It always baffled me how the M series was supposed to run cooler due to using less power, but the charger, battery, and case all grew when introducing M1.

 

[Tago]

People don`t have to buy macs, they can enjoy the anticipation of the next huge thing 24/7/52/365 without ever purchasing one. Thrills for free

 

[SlightWince]

Please, no OLED screens. I love the current mini led screen, and I prefer it to OLED. And it will last much longer with no burn-in. I don't care what people say about OLED burn-in improving. If they want to do something to improve the current nearly flawless macbook pro, just remove that silly notch.

 

[dwaite]

I hope they can make it as thin and light as the 2019 Intel model I'm still waiting to replace.

I think I'd prefer to see that as a premium variant of the Air with two additional USB ports on the opposite side and an improved screen.

It always baffled me how the M series was supposed to run cooler due to using less power, but the charger, battery, and case all grew when introducing M1.

That was what the press was demanding and what customers seemed to be echoing. Adding back HDMI ports and a keyboard with more travel necessitated the case getting thicker, there was a demand to max out the battery capacity (to FAA cabin maximums), they added back MagSafe and they made a charger that could hit it with nearly double the power.

 

[seek3r]

24 hours when you watch videos at low brightness. It’s more like 6-8 hours if you use it for anything else like web-browsing.

you have a source on that? Every battery life test I’ve seen on places like Ars usually verifies that Apple’s estimates are pretty close to accurate for normal use

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Don't try to gaslight me.

Relax please. I doubt that someone on MR fora pointing out why your thinking is flawed is gaslighting you. They are just telling you why your stated commentary is wrong.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Sadly the Age of LCD & LED is coming to a end OLED is the future of displays with the exit of Micro LED its not looking good.

Why "Sadly the Age of LCD & LED is coming to a end."? Apple will not move to new display tech unless and until it is better. Folks here describing previous year's issues they had with [likely often also lower end] OLED are not referencing whatever OLED hardware Apple will use in the future.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Some reduction in thickness and weight would be good. Definitely not as far as the 2016-2019 MBPs which were a complete cluster****, but the current utilitarian design, which a nice change and big improvement over the previous generation, is a bit too much.

Using a 2016 MBP next to a M2 MBP every day suggests that yes, Apple can unequivocally with 2025/2026 tech give us a thinner/lighter still-powerful MBP.

Aside from the sucky keyboard replaced by Apple 2x, I have loved the loaded 2016 MBP that I have used about every day since 2017 when I bought it. Although now the max-in-2016 16 GB RAM is inadequate except for mundane tasks, it remains an excellent laptop.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Oh, wow... I hadn't thought of that PoS for a long time. I had one of those; 2015, I think. Absolute garbage. Two top-panels in the time I had it. Unbelievable.

Though I do recognize that the MBP is pretty thick, I'm definitely with those who prefer the functionality over thinness. Just checking on the side of my M1 Pro, which is connected to my monitor for HDMI, it doesn't seem like it could be that much thinner, really. Maybe a couple of millimetres, I guess. But losing HDMI would be very bad. I no longer have much widget/adapter pain—the occasional USB-A thing, but nothing huge—but removing HDMI would be super inconvenient in so many situations. It's just such a widely used port (even though I personally think it's a bit flaky and crap), particularly since it's kind of the standard "home electronics" port.

Just last night I used my 2016 MBP to display on a big flat screen TV instead of using my M2 MBP with HDMI port. The dongle from USB-C port form to HDMI port form that the 2016 MBP required was effortless and cost about $20 for the quality Anker dongle IIRC.

What are important are A) bandwidth and B) number of ports in USB-C port form. If HDMI goes away it is fine as long as Apple both improves bandwidth and maintains or increases total port count.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Incredibly deceptive. Apple “designed” it by listing high-level specs like the size and shape and resolution. They didn’t design the technology. Samsung and LG invented the underlying tech and the fabrication process. Apple just selected specs based off what Samsung/LG’s fab tech can produce at an acceptable yield.

Anyone can go to Samsung and say "Give me your best M14 OLED at a 12" size at AAAAxYYYYp resolution at 1600 nits." Apple shouldn't be applauded for doing something an 8-year-old can do.

That is exactly what design is. Choosing available tech solutions like "best M14 OLED at a 12" size at AAAAxYYYYp resolution at 1600 nits" from all kinds of different options/sources and building them into a device that works well, is reliable and that people will buy enough of to keep the device builder in business.

Not "something an 8-year-old can do..." Just the one issue of where on the fab tech yield the component comes from [and costs] is hugely complex, affecting everything about the display performance and reliability for years into the future. Look at the posts here where people have been dissing OLED based on past experience with poor-performing OLEDs; Apple must design to avoid those issues on Macs. And that is just one component of many.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I think I'd prefer to see that as a premium variant of the Air with two additional USB ports on the opposite side and an improved screen.

IMO MBA will/should remain the low end; no premium variant. MBP can get thinner/lighter and still provide the higher end display, speakers, ports, RAM, etc.

 

[Trusteft]

Relax please. I doubt that someone on MR fora pointing out why your thinking is flawed is gaslighting you. They are just telling you why your stated commentary is wrong.

LOL

 

[buckwheet]

Just last night I used my 2016 MBP to display on a big flat screen TV instead of using my M2 MBP with HDMI port. The dongle from USB-C port form to HDMI port form that the 2016 MBP required was effortless and cost about $20 for the quality Anker dongle IIRC.

What are important are A) bandwidth and B) number of ports in USB-C port form. If HDMI goes away it is fine as long as Apple both improves bandwidth and maintains or increases total port count.

Well, sure. I mean, if they get rid of it, then I just get the adapter. Obviously it's not a huge deal. It's just another thing to have on-hand, and given the ubiquity of HDMI it seems a bit of a concession on a "work" machine.

But sure, I certainly wouldn't be signalling the demise of Apple if they dropped it. 🤣

 

[SFjohn]

Day 1 purchase for me if true..🤞🏻

 

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

As long as I don't have to give up my ports again, I'm in.

Bring back the lit Apple Logo.

 

[arobert3434]

I think I'd prefer to see that as a premium variant of the Air with two additional USB ports on the opposite side and an improved screen.

...

That was what the press was demanding and what customers seemed to be echoing. Adding back HDMI ports and a keyboard with more travel necessitated the case getting thicker, there was a demand to max out the battery capacity (to FAA cabin maximums), they added back MagSafe and they made a charger that could hit it with nearly double the power.

Well the 2019 Intel Pro 16 already had the keyboard travel and the max battery capacity. HDMI is to blame for the height, but I still don't know how they managed to increase the weight by 10%.

I guess it must be heat sinks. Apple finally got so tired of catching flak about people frying eggs on their laptops that they delivered the double whammy of Apple silicon AND beefed up cooling.

 

[lee647]

ill wait for this M6 macbook pro with face ID and OLED this will be the biggest upgrade it'll be way better than the new M4/M5