As soon as next month, Apple is expected to introduce its next MacBook Pro redesign. We’ll be seeing OLED, the first touchscreen on a Mac, a thinner chassis, Dynamic Island, and much more. This upgrade was rumored to be called MacBook Ultra, though it wasn’t necessarily clear where that’d leave the MacBook Pro brand. Now, it’s a lot more clear.
At first, one would’ve assumed that the base model 14″ MacBook Pro with the M5 chip would fulfill the MacBook Pro moniker. Then, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple would also be bringing certain elements of the MacBook Ultra design to the base MacBook Pro with M7. To me, this made the idea of ‘MacBook Ultra’ branding much less likely.
Now, a new report makes the idea of both MacBook Pro and MacBook Ultra much more sensible in the lineup.
According to Omdia, Apple will be keeping the current miniLED display panels in production through 2028.
This means two things: for one, if the existing MacBook Pro is staying in the lineup, the redesigned model will likely come with a significant price premium. It also means that the new model is much more likely to be called MacBook Ultra.
So, over the course of the next ~year, the MacBook lineup will likely look like this:
If all comes to fruition, the MacBook lineup will be bigger than ever. Ultimately, the older MacBook Pro remaining in the lineup will probably be short lived. I imagine it’s part of Apple’s strategy to keep the starting prices lower, as the company has done in the past.
In this scenario, I could see the miniLED MacBook Pros remaining around at $2499 starting, whereas the Ultra starts even higher, perhaps $2999.
What do you think about this reported MacBook lineup? What’s your starting price prediction for MacBook Ultra? Let us know in the comments.
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Michael is 9to5Mac’s Weekend Editor, keeping up with all of the latest Apple news on Saturday and Sunday. He got started in the world of Apple news during the pandemic, and it became a growing hobby. He’s also an indie iOS developer in his free time, and has published numerous apps over the years.
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