Apple’s first touch MacBook may replace the notch with Dynamic Island

Apple MacBook

• New MacBook Pros may feature OLED screens and Dynamic Island
• Dynamic Island could replace the notch for alerts and activities
• Touch input might be optional, not a full touch-first macOS redesign.

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Apple is expected to unveil redesigned MacBook Pro models later this year, and if the latest report is accurate, the changes will go far beyond a routine chip upgrade.

According to Bloomberg, the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, currently in development under the codenames K114 and K116, will feature OLED panels instead of the mini-LED displays used in the current generation. That alone would mark a significant visual shift, promising deeper blacks, improved contrast and potentially thinner hardware.

But the headline feature may be something far more controversial: the arrival of the Dynamic Island.

First introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro, the Dynamic Island replaced the traditional notch with a pill-shaped cut-out that dynamically expands and contracts to display alerts, timers and background activities. On the MacBook Pro, Bloomberg reports that the Dynamic Island will sit at the centre top of the display, effectively replacing the notch that debuted on recent MacBook Air and Pro models.

The notch has long divided opinion. While it houses the camera and blends into the menu bar, critics argue it eats into usable screen space without adding functionality. Developers in the open-source community have built creative utilities that turn the notch area into a file drop zone, clipboard manager or mini calendar, but Apple itself has left it largely untouched.

A Dynamic Island-style interface could change that. On iPhones, it tracks ongoing activities such as music playback, timers and navigation prompts. Translated to macOS, it could serve as a live activity hub, progress tracker or quick-access control surface.

Interestingly, Apple is not said to be redesigning macOS into a fully touch-first operating system. The idea, Bloomberg reports, is to let users blend touch input with traditional keyboard and trackpad controls. In other words, touch becomes optional rather than mandatory.

The Dynamic Island on the Mac is expected to be smaller than the version seen on current iPhones. Still, questions remain. If it changes size frequently, as it does on iOS, it could disrupt muscle memory, shifting interface elements around the top of the screen.