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Apple may be releasing an M5 MacBook Pro by spring 2025, but the M6 models due in late 2026 or early 2027 will be built to spur upgrades.
For companies that rely on upgrade cycles for revenue, there can sometimes be such a thing as too good a product. It’s not an unfamiliar situation for Apple, considering its iPad lineup has always seen a long consumer upgrade cycle.
But that hasn’t always been the case for the Mac. According to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter from Bloomberg, Apple will need to focus on other aspects beyond performance upgrades to entice its expanding customer base to bother upgrading.
He argues that the M-series processor is just too good and customers just don’t bother with upgrading regularly due to the longevity of the chipset. In the Intel days, users would upgrade frequently, sometimes even every generation.
Today, the M1 processor is still powerful enough for such a large segment of the user base that even as the M5 is on the horizon, there’s basically no reason to upgrade for some. So, a flashy redesign with several significant spec changes is expected.
The idea of a fully redesigned MacBook Pro has been floated around since late 2024, and rumors of an OLED model in 2026 have been going on since at least 2023. The product will be arriving around the MacBook Pro’s 20th anniversary, so Apple could take the opportunity to introduce several upgrades at once.
The MacBook Pro upgrade cycle
The transition to Apple Silicon introduced new size classes and a refreshed design for the MacBook Pro that has stuck in the five years since. M1 was a refreshing change from the slog of nearly useless upgrades offered by Intel in the previous decade.
M2 was a spec bump, then M3 saw a return of several munch-needed ports like HDMI, MagSafe, and an SD card slot. M4 saw yet another spec bump, and M5, due by spring 2026, will be more of the same.
Since Apple’s M-series processors don’t need to be upgraded in the usual two to three-year span previous products have seen, the M6 MacBook Pro could have a full redesign. The case could get thinner, OLED would take over from mini-LED, and M6 could also be a significant leap in processing.
There’s also the chance Apple could finally offer cellular modems in MacBooks thanks to advancements in its C-series chipsets.
However, AppleInsider policy on upgrade advice hasn’t changed. If you need a new computer today, don’t wait for what might come in the future — get what you need now with as much RAM as you can afford and more than the base storage.
The M5 MacBook Pro could launch in the fall of 2025, but recent reports have pushed that back to early 2026. Apple isn’t afraid to short-cycle its MacBook line, so a fall 2026 early 2027 launch of the M6 MacBook Pro is still possible.
