The 2023 MacBook Pro is the first to offer a Space Black option.
Apple plans to update the current MacBook Pro again in 2025, but those waiting for a major redesign may have to wait a little longer.
The company often tweaks the hardware of its MacBook Pro lineup each year. Major redesigns are more generational, with enclosure replacement intervals of approximately five years.
The lineup has seen some notable changes since its last major redesign in 2021. According to a report on Sunday, Apple is likely to launch a completely new-look laptop in 2026.
The recently announced 2024 MacBook Pro retains the design of the 2023 model and a new color option, Space Black. The port on the M4 version is still Thunderbolt 4, but the M4 Pro and Pro Max come with a Thunderbolt 5 port instead, offering double the bandwidth.
The 2025 version is expected to retain the same design, with only the processor upgraded to the expected M5 chip family. However, the 2026 model is expected to see major changes from the current design, such as changing from a mini LED display to OLED, and is said to be noticeably thinner and lighter. bloomberg.
MacBook Pro design through the years
The first Apple laptop to use the “MacBook Pro” name was released in 2006, so a 2026 redesign would be a fitting way to celebrate the laptop’s 20th anniversary. By today’s standards, the 2006 model was thick, boxy, and heavy at 5.6 pounds.
It was the first Mac laptop to feature the then-new MagSafe power connector and the first Mac laptop to feature a backlit keyboard. It is also the first product to be equipped with an Intel-based processor.
2006 first edition MacBook Pro. Image Credit: Apple
Just two years later, in 2008, Apple introduced a new aluminum enclosure called the “unibody” design, featuring rounded corners and tapered sides. Unusually, all the ports were on the left, with only the Superdrive slot on the right.
Four years later, in 2012, Apple released a much thinner, redesigned MacBook Pro with a better-than-HD Retina display. However, doing so did not include the built-in optical Superdrive, which would never return.
This MacBook Pro is the first to include SSD-based storage as well as an HDMI port. It also boasts a new, thinner MagSafe 2 power connector.
In 2015, Apple made minor but significant hardware changes to the 2012 design MacBook Pro. The trackpad has been modified to incorporate Force Touch. Force Touch actually simulates the feeling of pressing down on a surface and replaces mechanical movement with haptic feedback.
The company revised the MacBook Pro’s design once again in 2016 to make it thinner and lighter, introducing a multitouch OLED Touch Bar that replaced the previous row of function keys. This new model also includes a Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port for the first time.
A 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar that allows you to change functions for each application.
It also has a much larger trackpad, but has removed the MagSafe 2 charging port and uses a fourth USB-C/Thunderbolt port for charging. It also introduced the now-infamous “butterfly” keyboard, but also integrated the Touch ID sensor for easier access.
In 2017, Apple introduced the second-generation ‘Butterfly’ keyboard and added the Touch Bar to the entry-level 13-inch model. Other than the keyboard change, this model has no significant differences from the 2015 version.
According to repair data from Apple Authorized Service Providers, both versions of the “Butterfly” keyboard were slightly more likely to fail than their predecessors. Apple eventually settled a lawsuit over the keyboard with a $50 million payout that provided free repairs and compensation to affected MacBook owners.
In late 2019, Apple launched the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the largest Retina display it has ever released. More importantly, the company finally abandoned the “butterfly” keyboard design and called the new version the “Magic” keyboard.
The new model also features a much higher fidelity six-speaker sound system and an improved microphone array, which means you’ll get better sound both coming from the machine and coming in.
Apple Silicon Era
The following year saw the launch of Apple’s own ARM-based M1 processor, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro became the first model to feature this processor in November of that year, along with the M1 MacBook Air.
Apple has revamped its current 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro lines again for 2021. This new model brings back the MagSafe charging port, reducing the number of Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports to three. We’ve removed the Touchbar from larger models and gone back to physical function keys.
The 2021 MacBook Pro returns to physical function keys due to user protests.
For comparison, by this time Apple had reduced the weight of the 16-inch MacBook Pro by one pound compared to the 2006 15-inch MacBook Pro. This is an average loss of about 1 ounce per year.
The chassis of both models uses a new design that brings back the HDMI port and allows for integration of an SDXC card slot for camera cards. The camera built into the 16-inch device has also finally been upgraded to 1080p.
For 2022, Apple has tweaked the design ever so slightly to remove the Touch Bar to return the row of function keys to the 13-inch models, both of which now feature M2 processors. The hardware design has not changed unlike the 2021 M1 model.
If Apple significantly revises the hardware design of the M5 MacBook Pro in 2026, it will be the first major case change since 2021. According to new Apple specifications for the upcoming M4 MacBook Pro lineup, the only design changes for the 2024 model will be new. Optional nano-textured glass on the display.
