I love my new 16-inch MacBook Pro (a review is coming soon), but am still waiting for the ultimate (for me) update. No, I’m not talking a foldable laptop as is rumored, but a MacBook Pro with an OLED display and built-in cellular.
According to Ricky Park, senior principal analyst in Omdia’s Display research practice, “Apple is highly likely to incorporate OLED into its MacBook Pro models as early as 2026. This move could spark a significant surge in OLED demand within the notebook market, potentially reaching over 60 million units by 2031.”
The OLED display on the new iPad Pro is gorgeous, and I’d love to have on my my Mac laptop. And, as I’ve many times, I want a MacBook Pro with built-in cellular capabilities. Various iPad models have various cellar options, so why not Mac laptops with built-in 5G?
Also, if Apple isn’t going to give us a touchscreen Mac, I’d love to see the company’s patent filing for a “Mountable Tool Computer Input” that hints that the Touch Bar could be revived as a Mac laptop strip that supports the Apple Pencil.
Apple added the Touch Bar to its laptops in 2016, specifically the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pros. The hardware feature was introduced as a sort of 21st-century replacement to the familiar row of function keys that exist on almost all laptop and desktop computers. It was a controversial feature that Apple removed when it debuted its 2021 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. The patent filing in question would see a smaller version of the Touch Bar return with the ability to accept input from an Apple Pencil
As for that foldable Mac laptop, if/when it arrives, unlike my usual practice, I probably wouldn’t be any adopter. Not until I’m sure it won’t have a disturbing crease when folded.