Apple Unveils Touchscreen MacBook Pro and New M6 Hardware

Apple concluded a week of hardware announcements on Wednesday by introducing its first touchscreen MacBook Pro. CEO John Ternus presented the device at an event titled "Pro and Tell," revealing a laptop that supports scrolling, swiping, and pinching gestures. The company stated that the touch sensor is integrated directly into the display panel rather than layered on top, a design choice intended to lower latency. The screen is a tandem OLED panel capable of a 120Hz refresh rate and 2,000 nits of brightness.

The new MacBook Pro is lighter than previous generations, with the 14-inch model weighing three pounds. It features an illuminated Apple logo on the lid and includes a Dynamic Island on the display. This island provides real-time updates, file search capabilities, and Siri AI integration. The 14-inch model with the M5 Pro chip starts at $2,899, while the 16-inch version begins at $3,399. Configurations with the M5 Max chip are also available. Preorders opened on Wednesday, and the units will ship starting November 6.

Earlier in the week, Apple updated the iPad Mini with a larger 8.5-inch OLED display. The new tablet is 5.4mm thick, with bezels that are 24 percent slimmer than those on the prior model. It includes what Apple calls an "Acoustic Display," which pairs woofers with the screen to enhance bass and volume. The device is powered by the A20 Pro chip and features a 12-megapixel landscape camera. It also carries an IP67 rating for water and dust protection.

The iPad Mini starts at $699 for the Wi-Fi only version with 128GB of storage. It is available in midnight and starlight colors. A glare-reducing nano-texture display is included with the 256GB and 512GB configurations. Apple also refreshed the standard 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6 chip and its in-house N1 networking chip. This update adds Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support. The laptop retains the Liquid Retina XDR display and a 12MP Center Stage camera. Pricing for this model begins at $1,999, with shipping also scheduled for November 6.

The iMac lineup was also moved to the M6 chip, which Apple claims delivers up to five times faster on-device AI performance than the M4-powered version. The design, colors, and port selection remain largely unchanged, with a maximum of four Thunderbolt ports. The M6 iMac starts at $1,499 for the base model featuring a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of storage. Preorders are open, and availability begins November 6.

On the software front, Apple is adding an AI chatbot to Keynote, Numbers, and Pages. The company said the tool understands document context and is built on models from Apple and OpenAI. It can design and animate slides in Keynote, restructure drafts in Pages, and visualize data in Numbers. Additionally, Apple is introducing an AI-powered fill feature to Pixelmator Pro, a new AI assistant to Logic Pro, and direct access to MotionVFX in Final Cut Pro.