Report: Apple’s Upcoming Touchscreen MacBook Pros to Re-Use Existing M5 Pro and Max Chips

Apple’s MacBook Pro is reportedly set to receive its biggest redesign in years in the coming months. For the first time, Apple will bring a touchscreen to its flagship laptops, but the redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models shouldn’t come with big internal upgrades.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is reporting today that Apple plans to re-use the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips that made their debut in the refreshed MacBook Pro models released in March. Yesterday, the reporter explained that while a new M6 chip is coming later this year, Apple decided to skip Pro and Max versions of it to focus its resources on the development of its M7 Pro and M7 Max chips, which are scheduled for late 2027.

“The M7 Pro, M7 Max and M7 Ultra chips — part of a family code-named Andros — are being developed to support more demanding AI workloads. They will include vastly upgraded neural accelerators, graphics improvements and expanded memory bandwidth that helps accelerate AI model processing,” Gurman reported today.

It’s not that unusual for Apple to re-use old chips for product refreshes: You may remember that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus used the same A16 Bionic chip as the iPhone 14 Pro from the previous year. Last year’s Apple Watch Series 11, SE 3, and Ultra also used the same S10 chip as the older Apple Watch Series 10.

Anyway, the design changes introduced on the touchscreen M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros should be the bigger story. According to Gurman, the new laptops will introduce an “updated industrial design,” with touch-enabled screens featuring the iPhone’s Dynamic Island interface. These new MacBook Pros will also be the first Mac laptops with OLED screens.

“The new machines are likely to be pricey given their upgrades and the price increases that Apple already rolled out Thursday,” Gurman added. Due to the ongoing chip crisis, Apple raised the price of nearly all Mac models yesterday, and the 14-inch M5 Pro MacBook Pro is now $300 more expensive, with a $2,499 starting price.