Apple MacBook Ultra OLED sticks with M5 Pro and M5 Max chipsets
According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple’s upcoming high-end MacBook model with an OLED touchscreen display, the Apple MacBook Ultra OLED, will use the company’s current M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.
According to Gurman, the new Apple MacBook Ultra OLED is expected to launch “between the end of this year and the beginning of next year” and will utilize Apple’s existing high-end chips instead of the M6 generation. Like the MacBook Pro, the touchscreen MacBook will be available with 14-inch and 16-inch displays (codenames “K114” and “K116”). The device will also feature a new design and a dynamic, iPhone-style user interface. It is expected to be more expensive than the M5 Pro MacBook Pro, whose price now starts at $1,999 following Apple’s recent price increases.
Apple MacBook Ultra OLED awaits M7 chips
A new Apple MacBook Ultra OLED naturally needs a chipset for the appropriate performance. Therefore, Apple is adjusting its timeline for the introduction of Apple Silicon chips to also accelerate the debut of processors specifically designed for AI workloads. Apple plans to launch an M6 chip for entry-level Macs later this year but has scrapped plans for the more powerful M6 Pro and M6 Max chips. Instead, the next Pro and Max chips will be part of the M7 series, with the first M7 chips expected to appear in 2027. An M5 Ultra chip could also be released this year.
- M5 Ultra – End of 2026
- M6 – End of 2026
- M7 – First half of 2027
- M7 Pro – End of 2027
- M7 Max – End of 2027
- M7 Ultra – 2028
Apple is accelerating the development of its M7 chips because they incorporate technologies that support on-device AI and GPU-intensive software. Since the introduction of the first Apple Silicon chips, Apple has always offered at least three variants: the standard M-series chip, a Pro version, and a Max version. With the M6, Apple will for the first time not release a Pro or Max variant for this model line.
Apple could update its entry-level MacBook Pro with an M6 chip as early as this year. This chip is expected to offer a memory bandwidth of around 200 GB/s, enabling improved graphics performance as well as faster AI processing and video editing. The standard M5 chip has a memory bandwidth of 153 GB/s, while the standard M7 chip is expected to reach 240 GB/s.
According to Bloomberg, the M6 will also feature an updated memory architecture and an improved Neural Engine, as well as performance increases across all processor cores and a redesigned GPU with up to 12 cores. Previous rumors suggested that the M6 would be the first chip manufactured using Apple’s new 2-nanometer process.
The standard M6 could also be used in the entry-level Mac mini and iMac, as well as in upcoming iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The more powerful MacBook Pro models and the more powerful Mac mini will be equipped with the M7 Pro and M7 Max chips. The Mac Studio will use the M7 Max and M7 Ultra.
According to Bloomberg, Apple still plans to release an M5 Ultra for an updated version of the Mac Studio later this year. The M5 Ultra is expected to feature around 36 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores. A Mac Studio with the M5 Ultra could be equipped with up to 768 GB of unified memory. Whether this chip will also appear in the Apple MacBook Ultra OLED remains to be seen.
