OLED MacBook Pro may skip high-end M6 chips for M7 in 2027
Apple may skip high-end M6 chips, with OLED MacBook Pro models reportedly waiting for M7 Pro and M7 Max until late 2027.
Apple may skip the M6 Pro, M6 Max and M6 Ultra chips altogether, with the company’s next high-end MacBook Pro models reportedly moving from the current M5 Pro and M5 Max generation to M7 Pro and M7 Max chips in late 2027. The report comes from MacRumors, which says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman repeated the timeline on his Power On podcast.1
That would make the upcoming OLED MacBook Pro a curious halfway point in Apple’s laptop roadmap. The redesigned machines are expected to bring touchscreen OLED displays, but the latest report says the premium versions will keep using the existing M5 Pro and M5 Max chips rather than introducing a new high-end M6 family.1
Apple’s current MacBook Pro range uses M5, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with the company’s own product page positioning the machines around performance, on-device AI and up to 24 hours of battery life.2 Apple’s latest MacBook Pro announcement, from March 2026, introduced the M5 Pro and M5 Max models and described them as the company’s current professional laptop platform.2
According to the report, Apple is still expected to launch a refreshed lower-end 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M7 chip in 2027. The high-end touchscreen models would instead use M7 Pro and M7 Max chips towards the end of that year, while an M7 Ultra chip is not expected until the first half of 2028.1
The timing matters because it suggests Apple may be separating the MacBook Pro’s design cycle from its chip cycle. A new display and chassis could arrive before the next major performance jump, leaving buyers to choose between a visibly redesigned laptop with familiar silicon and a later model with the more substantial processor upgrade.
What the report means
This is not an Apple announcement. MacRumors is reporting information attributed to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, and Apple has not confirmed the OLED MacBook Pro, the M7 timetable or the decision to skip the rest of the M6 Pro family.1 The company’s official MacBook Pro materials currently describe the M5, M5 Pro and M5 Max range rather than any future M7 hardware.2
The report also does not establish whether the OLED models will launch at the same time as the lower-end M6 MacBook Pro and M6 iMac products mentioned in the wider roadmap. It points to a staggered strategy instead: an M6 refresh for some mainstream hardware, followed by a jump to M7 for the high-end machines.
Our opinion
If this roadmap is accurate, the OLED MacBook Pro’s appeal will depend heavily on the display and industrial redesign rather than headline performance. That may be perfectly reasonable for people waiting for a touchscreen MacBook, but it makes the late-2027 M7 models the more interesting target for professionals who care primarily about sustained CPU, GPU and AI workloads. Until Apple confirms the machines, buyers should treat the OLED and M7 details as a report to watch rather than a buying timetable.
For now, the safest conclusion is that Apple’s next MacBook Pro transition could arrive in two stages: a new screen and body first, then the bigger chip change later. The gap between those launches will determine whether the first OLED model feels like a genuine generational leap or an expensive preview of the MacBook Pro Apple really wants to build.