Here’s When You’ll Be Able to Buy the M5 MacBook Air
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Apple officially entered its M5 era on Wednesday. The company not only announced the new M5 chip, emphasizing its AI processing power, but also the first batch of new devices that will ship with it. If you want to buy an Apple device with the company’s latest and greatest hardware, it’s all at your fingertips.
That said, the list of product announcements was limited. While Apple revealed that M5 versions of the iPad Pro and Vision Pro would be available starting October 22, it only showed off one M5 Mac: the 14-inch MacBook Pro. The 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air are still stuck on M4 at the moment, as are the Pro and Max versions of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. But a few days later, we know when that could change.
More M5 Macs are on the horizon
If you’re hesitant to buy one of the current M4 laptops in the hopes that Apple will upgrade them with M5 chips soon, you’re going to wait a little longer. As Bloomberg’s usually reliable Mark Gurman reports, Apple doesn’t plan to refresh its MacBook Air line until next spring. This also goes for a host of other Mac products, including the M5 versions of the Mac Studio and Mac mini, in addition to the new Mac monitors.
It’s a similar story for the MacBook Pro M5 Pro and M5 Max. While Gurman doesn’t specify whether these laptops will also arrive in the spring, he reports that Apple plans to refresh the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with the new chips in “early 2026.”
Gurman says the new MacBook Pros will recycle Apple’s current design, and I imagine the same will be true for the M5 MacBook Airs. After all, the M5 14-inch MacBook Pro is identical to its M4 counterpart, with the only notable changes (other than the M5 chip) being an improved 24-hour battery life and a faster SSD.
If you’re currently on the fence about buying a new MacBook, I don’t think there’s much reason to wait for the M5, unless you really want the newest hardware Apple has to offer. The current M4 machines are excellent and, in the case of the MacBook Air, can be had for a very reasonable price, especially when they go on sale. During October’s Prime Day, stores were offering the 13-inch MacBook Air M4 for just $799, which is great value.
Apple is also working on a touchscreen MacBook Pro
In that same report, Gurman discusses Apple’s current plans for a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen, which would be a dramatic refresh – no Mac has Never comes with a touchscreen, unless you count the controversial Touch Bar (RIP), which only adds a touchscreen strip to the top of the keyboard.
According to Gurman, these touchscreens will be OLEDs, which the company already uses in its iPad Pro and iPhone. You’ll still get the standard keyboard and trackpad, so you can skip the touchscreen altogether, although Apple plans to replace Touch ID with Face ID, again mirroring its iPad and iPhone. At this point, the “notch” (the large camera cutout at the top of the screen) may be replaced with a smaller punch-hole design, reminiscent of the iPhone’s dynamic island.
Along with the touchscreen, Apple could update the design of these MacBook Pros to make them thinner and lighter, and they could work on the M6 chip, rather than a version of the M5. They may also include a new hinge and lid design to compensate for the force of touching the screen. Keep in mind that this would be a new design challenge for the MacBook line, which has never had to deal with users deliberately touching the screen before.
Gurman says the touchscreen MacBook Pro won’t debut until late 2026 or even early 2027. When it arrives, its price will likely be increased by at least “a few hundred dollars more than current versions.” Right now, M4 Pro MacBook Pros start at $1,999 for the 14-inch model and $2,499 for the 16-inch model. Apple would significantly improve the hardware here, so the price increase is not without merit. But if you’re looking for the best value Mac possible, it’s hard to beat the current M4 MacBook Air, especially when it’s on sale.
