Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Portables (Apple) Apple

Apple's Touch-Screen MacBook Pro To Have Dynamic Island, New Interface (bloomberg.com) 69

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
Apple's forthcoming touch-screen MacBook Pro models -- the company's first-ever laptops to support touch input -- will feature the iPhone's Dynamic Island at the center top of their OLED displays and a new interface that dynamically adjusts between touch and point-and-click controls, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the plans.

The 14-inch and 16-inch models, code-named K114 and K116, are slated for release toward the end of 2026 and won't be part of Apple's product announcements in the first week of March. The redesigned interface brings up a contextual menu surrounding a user's finger when they touch a button or control, and enlarges menu bar items when tapped, adapting the available controls based on whether the input is touch or click.

Apple does not plan to position the machines as iPad replacements or describe them as touch-first; the physical design retains the full keyboard and large trackpad of the current MacBook Pro. Last year's Liquid Glass redesign in macOS Tahoe, which added more padding around icons and touch-optimized sliders in the control center, was partly groundwork for this shift.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Apple's Touch-Screen MacBook Pro To Have Dynamic Island, New Interface More

Apple's Touch-Screen MacBook Pro To Have Dynamic Island, New Interface

Comments Filter:

  • Lazy Journalism (Score:4, Informative)

    by UPi ( 137083 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2026 @04:41AM (#66009248)
    No, please, don't bother telling us what a "Dynamic island" is. Just, you know, copy the blurb from a paywalled article, and you're done!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It's a non-static non-penisula.

    • I have a kitchen island on wheels, which goes around the kitchen, they have a pop-up around the front camera that gets bigger so that the user loses track of where that black patch is.

      Almost the same thing.

      • To me a kitchen island is a counter top that sits in the middle of a kitchen. Why does yours have a camera? Why would I even want a countertop with a camera in my kitchen?

        • The only reason to imagine a camera would be the lack of reading comprehension on your part, I guess.

          And yes, I have a dynamic island that moves around, much more convenient than a static one.

          • Let me simplify it for you: I would like clarification on the type of island you are talking about. The kitchen islands I am familiar with did not require cameras as a part of their functionality so I am curious as to why yours has one. This must be due to a misunderstanding on my part and I admit that.

      • That's a serving cart of some sort. Kitchen Islands do not have wheels or they would be called kitchen carts...

        You could shorten it to Kitchen Cart - but it's no Island. I do see they sell them as Kitchen Island on Wheels... which just means the cart got too big for it's use case, IMHO. And no, hiding the wheels does not an Island make.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      They put the camera behind the screen on the iPhone, necessitating a hole in said screen for it to see out of. To try make it less of a shit idea, they expanded the hole into a "dynamic island", Apple marketing bullshit for there being a horrible black bar at the top of your screen that gets wider sometimes, which is supposed to make you think it's a feature instead of a hole in your screen.

      The worst part is that because Apple is doing it, other laptop manufacturers will follow.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Actually it's not a hole - it's a hole for front facing cameras, but on iPhones there's 3 lenses there - 1 is a standard RGB front facing camera, 1 is an IR structured light projector and the last is an IR camera, the latter two provide depth information similar to the Xbox 360 Kinect system.

        This turns the hole into a wide pill. Apple sought to make use of this by making a software feature that can expand it as needed to serve as a way to provide notifications.

        If you extend the island to the top of the scre

    • It sounds like you will also need somebody to tell you what "laptop" and "Apple" mean.

  • Non-Paywalled source (Score:5, Informative)

    by EvilSS ( 557649 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2026 @05:22AM (#66009268)
    https://www.macrumors.com/2026... [macrumors.com]

    Seriously, does the site get a kickback if people click through and subscribe or something? It's like they go out of their way to pick paywalled sources.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mattr ( 78516 )

      Thanks. So M5 Ultra MBP in November? I would buy it in May or June if they have it. The big question is, will Apple's theoretical RAM price lock-in last until end of the year. OLED and touch (does it open all the way?) would surely be nice to have but for me memory, bandwidth and thermals would be the main draws.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Entrope ( 68843 )

        Apple is unlikely to do an Mx Ultra laptop; power consumption would be wildly high. The current rumors are M5 Pro and Max next week, and M6 Pro and Max around November.

    • They didn’t “pick” the source, the Bloomberg article *is* the source. The site you linked is simply quoting from it.

  • its about time but (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Venova ( 6474140 )
    if its not convertible why would you want to use touch unless your in bed or just scrolling something

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by quenda ( 644621 )

      if its not convertible why would you want to use touch unless your in bed or just scrolling something

      Good question. I went from a Surface Pro to a macbook. I thought I'd miss the touchscreen, but it wasn't long before I stopped leaving finger smudges on the screen. No great loss.
      The 12" Surface still gets used sometimes as a tablet for book reading, or on the train. I think Microsoft made a mistake, so did Ubuntu, trying to make a "One UI fits all" for desktop to tablet. I mean, they did a good job, but in hindsight its better to keep them distinct.

      • I currently am using a Wintel laptop, and I find myself rarely using the touchscreen. I do use an iPad and Android tablet as well, where I do use touch. I have a Surface Pro as well, and rarely touch it in laptop mode: only if I'm reading something on Nook do I bother: that's the only application where I like touch. Otherwise, I prefer keyboards, even when typing WhatsApp or text messages

    • Are they thinking about discontinuing the iPad, adding it to the iPod and Intel macs as yet another orphaned product line? If not, what exactly is the differentiation? One can take one's iPad, attach a keyboard to it when working at a desk, but lug it around while travelling: it's lighter than a mac. If this MacBook Pro doesn't allow a complete reverse-fold beyond 180, then what's the point of the touchscreen?

      It seems to me that the iPad is a better option. One can use it as a laptop while working at

      • Its not just Mac apps, but the underlying usability of the whole system. If they would just let us run MacOS on the iPad we wouldn't need this.

        • If developers allow it, iPad apps run on Mx Macs without issue. I wish more developers would write for the iPad and allow their apps to work on the Mac, because this provides some decent sandboxing.

          I will admit that when I go on a trip, I grab my iPad instead of my MacBook. However, there are times when I'm doing more UNIX stuff, and the only real way to do that is to VDI into a remote desktop, perhaps using Tailscale to make life easier.

          • My sister does this as well. She has both an iPad and a macbook, but when she travels, she takes the iPad. That's why I'm saying the distinction b/w these 2 lines is almost lost. In the past, when macs were still Intel based, it was one thing, but now that both macs and iPads use both M-series and A-series CPUs, there seems little reason why iPads can't now run macOS instead of iOS, or iPadOS as they rebranded it

      • Are they thinking about discontinuing the iPad, adding it to the iPod and Intel macs as yet another orphaned product line? If not, what exactly is the differentiation?

        Probably not. The main differentiation these days is the CPU. Most iPads use Ax series chips which are less powerful and more power efficient than Mx series. They are also cheaper. The second difference is the OS where iPadOS is designed primarily around touch controls. MacOS requires a keyboard and mouse. The two operating systems share components but are distinctly different.

        The reason for discontinuing the iPod was clear: That market is now very small as most people do not carry a music player and a phon

        • But this is a pretty blurred differentiation. Already, they are talking about introducing a $599 macbook w/ an A19 CPU (iirc), and the most recent iPad pro and iPad airs have M5 and M3 CPUs in them. We're not even talking about different instruction sets anymore the way it was when macs were x86 based: it's more like picking b/w an Intel Core i5 vs a Celeron. And even the M1 is not just powerful, but incredibly low energy consumption (unless one is running Steam), while even the A19 is pretty powerful in

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Holi ( 250190 )

            "that's not something that happens on PCs, which typically have dedicated power plugs, as opposed to charging via USB ports"
            You haven't used a windows laptop recently have you? Outside of gaming laptops, they all use USB-c for charging.

            • I have 2 Windows laptops - a Surface Book 4, and an HP laptop. The Surface definitely doesn't use USB-C charging, and it's actually a reference platform Microsoft built to show how Windows laptop makers can challenge Apple. The HP laptop too came w/ the usual proprietary charging brick, which one can substitute w/ a universal power adaptor.

              Yeah, the reason gaming laptops don't use USB-C for charging is that their batteries would drain out if they did. Just like my M1 does

          • And even the M1 is not just powerful, but incredibly low energy consumption (unless one is running Steam), while even the A19 is pretty powerful in its own right.

            Again the main distinction is A series is less powerful and more power efficient than M series. That's it. Device wise the other difference is iPad is touch-centric while MacBook is keyboard/mouse centric.

        • What annoys me is that there is a huge market need for iPods. I used to ship them with every user, pre-provisioned in the Mac MDM and ready to be used as an additional device for 2FA authentication. If someone lost their phone, they could still get into their company account, without having to use a YubiKey.

          • There is a need for additional device authentication. An iPod Touch seems to be an expensive solution to that. The last ones sold for $200 at retail. Sure used ones are cheaper but supply is unreliable. A $25-90 Yubikey seems more practical.
    • I have a touchscreen Windows laptop. I rarely use the touch screen aspect as it is normally docked so I use a keyboard and mouse. For my job, there is very little use case for touch. If anything it is an annoyance as it sometimes rotates and locks in portrait tablet mode even though I turned that off. Since Windows 10, it seems MS treats some settings as mere suggestions.
  • Who the fuck asked for this? Does anyone actually want this dynamic island bullshit?
    • Well, they wanted touch screens, so Apple had to tweak the UI. I don't see a problem there. The marketing-speak is annoying, but in the end they're just announcing a product people have been asking for.

      • Who exactly wanted touchscreens? Yeah, that was one supposed "shortcoming" that macbooks had that Wintel laptops didn't, but one could already attach a keyboard to an iPad and get the same experience. Well, almost the same experience given the differences b/w iPadOS and macOS, but Apple could have simply made macOS an option on iPads, if any customers needed it

        The lines b/w a mac and an iPad are blurring, but I think that the latter - w/ an option of keyboard - would be an ideal Swiss Army knife for any

        • Have you noticed yet that you answered your own questions? It was recognized, by Mac users, as a shortcoming, thus must have been something they wanted. Attaching an iPad, or a keyboard to an iPad is not the same.

          Besides, why not do it? There are plenty of laptops with touchscreens, some people really like them, and many of those people are Mac users.

          When I had a touchscreen laptop (surface book 2), I frikkin loved it. I bought my wife a touchscreen laptop (a cheaper one), and she loves it. I don

          • I have a Surface Book 4 - it's good! Only time I use the touchscreen is if I'm lying down and reading something on my Nook library. Otherwise, when I'm using it in laptop mode, whether it's web browsing, typing emails or playing games, it's almost always the keyboard/trackpad, and rarely the touchscreen. Even though I have a Surface Pen to go w/ it as well - which I use whenever I need to use the touchscreen, to avoid leaving my fingerprints on it

            Oh, one more thing it's good for - if one needs to hand-

            • I found myself using touch for scrolling all the time. Why? Dunno, but I did. Zooming too. Even if my hand was next to the mouse.

              Unless I had it flipped around or separated, then it was all touch. A minor convenience not worth the price tag, but it was work-issued so I took advantage.

    • If you want a webcam in your MacBook Pro, probably yes. Today's MBPs have a notch at the top of the screen for it. Dynamic Island is just a fancy name for making that notch....less annoying? I guess that's subjective. But DI works okay.
    • I got the first version of an iPhone Pro that had this dynamic island thing (it was just my long awaited upgrade time, and I'm certainly no Apple fanboy).

      It's actually a decent and unobstructive addition to the UI. I do think most of it is to be flashy, but it does serve a useful purpose: it's a tiny bit of useful info and a quick switch to apps that you typically run in the background, but frequently jump back in and out of. Spotify and Uber most commonly. Although, the "time to arrival" Uber shows in t

  • All I know for sure is that I don't want my name associated with touching things on any Dynamic Island. Didn't a bunch of people just get in a lot of trouble for that? I'll stick using the Pros, thank you. They are expensive but for the things they can do and the way they do them, those stylish "laptops" are worth it.

    But let me know if they are going to offer contortionist models later. I've seen films.

  • I am glad that Apple is leading the way with this brave new feature.

  • This is huge!

    For whom, exactly?

    • Mac users who wanted touch screen laptops. I'd think that was obvious.

      You do know they exist, right?

      • I think he was talking about dynamic islands, although he may clarify whether he actually was or not
        • Fair point, but aren't those just UI elements added to support touch? I may have misunderstood.
      • Yeah, they are probably ones who think it will be an iPad with a keyboard and everything will just work.
        It won't.

        And the majority who pay the xtra, they will barely use it too in the end. So that just leaves a very few people who care.
        • I don't know, Apple has plenty of experience with touch interfaces. It'll probably work just as well as any touch laptop - like you want it to, just not used as often as you thought it would be.
          • Touch requires much bigger landing spots for big fingers, unless they will require a pen....

            This will make the UI bloated and awkward for non touch screens if they have the same UI.
            If the have a different UI, then everyone is going to have to change the UI dependant on use case, and some software just won't , the demand is not there.

            Then there is the keyboard , it will need to flip over backwards or detach so it can be used as a tablet, I see PCs being used this way in walk and talk and take notes cas
            • I get where you're coming from, but I didn't run into any issues with a touch laptop running Win10 without UI changes. Windows has a tablet mode, but it doesn't change the interface much and I rarely needed it. It just tiled everything and provided the on-screen keyboard.

              Think of it this way - look at your desktop. If you don't have it cranked up so high that everything is tiny, poke things with your finger and see if it would be a problem. You'll probably find it won't be, except maybe for selecting

              • I just hope Apple doesn't mess it up. I prefer an information-dense UI, like how Windows 2000 was, pre XP/Luna. However, with the push for the same UI for tablets as desktops, I worry Apple will make the same mistake MS did with Windows 8 and 8.1.

    • This is huge!

      For whom, exactly?

      For the product managers in charge of marketing and selling a new version of the Apple Pencil that will cost £10 to make and will sell for £100...

  • With what I read about the "iPadification" and "IPhontifcation" of macOS, I'm really getting concerned they are going to continue in the forced "harmonisation" of the UI, to the point I'll want to poke my eyes out. Keep the iPad devs out of the macOS department.

    For the Apple devs wanting to make the macOS look like and iPad: go join the iPadOS team and leave macOS alone.Then, again given some of the questionable design choices on the recent iPhone: go join the Windows team,

    • I believe that that's water under the bridge: when they started changing the UI of the mac os from the OS-X like interface to the iOS-like interface in 2016, w/ Sierra. So already the UI looks similar to iOS and has been for now 9 years. But they did do a better job than Microsoft did when it went from the Aero to the Metro user interface in Windows 8: in this case, even w/o touchpads, the macOS UI is very usable, and if touch is introduced, one just needs to touch those icons or swipe up to get the entir

  • For example if you print from an app, a little popup in the menubar appears that looks like that island nonsense from the phone (I have an old 13 w/o this island, so I am guessing this is where it comes from, but what else could it be.)
  • Windows has had touchscreen since 2009. Everyone I know hates it and thinks it's inferior to mouse/touchpad. If it didn't suck, every external monitor sold today would support it so desktop users can share in the glory. Touchscreens fucking suck. They're better than nothing, but far inferior to mice. A MacBook Pro is a serious tool designed to do serious work....same applies to MacOS. This is just extra cost and something to go wrong. It reminds me of the iphone air. Who the fuck wants a thinner p
    • Exactly. The OS and apps all have to be reengineered to support tapping. It's a completely different UX than mouse point and click. The usability, productivity, and use-cases of tablet vs. desktop apps differ wildly and particularly for the kind of task. I sure as shit wouldn't try to code more than a simple example on a tablet. Some things are arguably almost equally productive on tablets and desktops like general web browsing.

      (Written using Brave on an iPad Pro (M4))
  • Ever since convertible Tablet PCs, they've been the worst of both worlds whereas tablet OSes are designed to work with less precise tapping vs. the precision of mouse cursors and mouse clicks. This is totally pointless caving to critics. If it would've been any good, sj would've added it decades ago. And also cleaning screens is a PITA. No, just no.
  • Another hardware limitation rebranded as a distracting interface “feature.” Those who keep buying Apple products deserve it.

Slashdot Top Deals

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"

Close