With the launch of the M4-powered MacBook Air in March 2025, Apple saw a spike in Mac sales, with the second fiscal quarter of 2025 up 16 percent year on year over 2024. Thanks to he delay in the MacBook Air’s upgrade to M4—some nine months after the chipset was announced—the demand for the consumer-focused laptop was sated.
With the Apple Silicon M5 expected to debut at next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference, a new round of updates to the Mac platform in general, and the MacBook Pro in particular, is about to begin.
Although those looking to reach the new definition of cutting-edge Mac hardware may have to wait some time, Apple is not expected to launch the new powerful laptops until later this year. If Tim Cook and his team follow the same pattern as 20254, expect to see the first M5-powered MacBook Pro machines in October. All three variants—with the M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max chipsets—should launch at the same event.
Don’t expect any significant design changes. While the M5 chipset will bring more performance and capability to the macOS platform (which will no doubt be welcomed by the Apple Intelligence team working hard to bring competency to Apple’s generative AI project), the overall design and hardware specifications will likely remain static.
Many features are lurking in the wings for the MacBook Pro. You have an OLED display, which would offer deeper blacks and more vibrant colors; the option for a touchscreen (which has the bonus of bringing macOS closer to iPadOS for more connectivity between the platforms); or the potential of a 5G modem once Apple perfects its own modem, the first of which was recently introduced on the iPhone 16e.
If performance is your only demand in a new MacBook Pro, you’re going to be well served this year. But if you are looking for something more than a simple bump in the numbers, you’ll be waiting until 2026.
Now read the latest iPhone, MacBook Pro, and App Store headlines in Forbes’ weekly Apple Loop news digest…
