MacBook Ultra’s New Design to Hit More Models Soon

The conversation around Apple’s next flagship laptop has centered almost entirely on its touchscreen and OLED display, but the chassis redesign accompanying those features could end up being the more significant shift. That is because this new look is reportedly not staying exclusive to the premium tier for long, with plans already in motion to bring it to more affordable models.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman recently detailed Apple’s roadmap to refresh its entire Mac lineup over the coming two years. Within that report, he noted that the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro expected in 2027, reportedly codenamed K104, is said to adopt the same design language as the high-end K114 and K116 machines, albeit with a standard M7 chip. If that holds, the design debuting on the rumored “MacBook Ultra” would trickle down to a substantially cheaper laptop within about a year of its launch, a trajectory first flagged in early July.

Apple’s last major MacBook Pro redesign came in 2021 alongside the introduction of the M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, and that overhaul moved in the opposite direction of what is now expected. The device became thicker and heavier, while Apple reinstated the HDMI port, SD card slot, and MagSafe charging that had been removed from the prior generation. Five years later, the company appears intent on reversing that thickness trend.

The upcoming chassis is anticipated to be noticeably slimmer and lighter. By replacing the mini-LED backlight with a hybrid OLED stack, Apple can eliminate an entire physical layer from the lid, since OLED pixels generate their own illumination. So far, there is no indication that Apple plans to cut ports to shave off the remaining millimeters, which is fortunate given how poorly that strategy was received last time.

The most visible change will likely be at the front of the machine. The notch is expected to vanish in favor of a much smaller hole-punch camera, a shift first suggested by research firm Omdia and later corroborated by Bloomberg. The cutout is said to be pill-shaped, which would allow for an interactive Dynamic Island that expands contextually, much like it does on the iPhone.

Whether the display sizes themselves will change remains an open question. Omdia has claimed that Samsung Display will supply 14.3-inch and 16.3-inch panels, marginally larger than the 14.2-inch and 16.2-inch screens on current models, which would point to slimmer bezels surrounding a slightly bigger display. A February report from Bloomberg, however, indicated that screen dimensions were not expected to change, though that rumor may not have factored in a modest bezel reduction.

Apple is also said to be incorporating a reinforced hinge to prevent the display from wobbling when tapped, though it is unclear whether this will produce any visible external differences. Gurman described the company’s approach to touch input as “touch-friendly, not touch-first.”

The fate of the high-end MacBook Pro remains a lingering question. Gurman’s roadmap lists high-end 14-inch and 16-inch “MacBook” models without the Pro suffix, and no separate high-end MacBook Pro appears alongside them, though that phrasing is difficult to rely on when the final branding itself is still unresolved. The new MacBook “Ultra” could either replace the current M5 Pro and M5 Max models outright at a higher price point, or sit above them as an entirely new tier while those machines remain on sale.

If the high-end MacBook Pro receives Apple’s next-generation M7 Pro and M7 Max chips in late 2027, and considering the entry-level M7 model is slated to adopt the MacBook Ultra’s design in the first half of that year, it seems nearly certain that the premium units will follow suit. That would leave all five of Apple’s most powerful laptops sharing the same overarching design, a level of consistency the company has not pursued in years.