Apple's next MacBook Pro could be 'MacBook Ultra'

From budget to pro.

After a slew of announcements ranging from the newest high-end M5 Max MacBook Pro and Studio Display XDR, all the way down to the cheapest MacBook Neo, it seems that rumors still keep coming. Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, in his Power On newsletter, shared today that Apple's next move could be renaming and rebranding their high-end products to be Ultra-named.

This starts with the existing Apple Watch Ultra. This Ultra device is already miles ahead of the normal Apple Watch, which is plenty for most people. The price gap between the regular Apple Watch and the Apple Watch Ultra is so large that a Pro model not existing almost makes sense. The gap would be filled weirdly if it did exist.

Then comes the MacBooks. In the fall, Apple is expected to fit the M6 MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen display, much like the Tandem OLED in the iPad Pro M4/M5. That display is incredible, but it did bump the price up $200, so another price hike is expected here as well. Apple did just increase the prices of their MacBook Pros by $200, most likely due to the memory crisis, but an OLED display would raise prices even more than that, most likely. However, this would again further the gap between the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, so an Ultra moniker may be in store. In order to combat this still large price gap, even with the Ultra name, Apple could keep around the M5 MacBook Pro for the time being to allow for some adjustment to the higher prices.

Bloomberg does note that the brand new Studio Display XDR does not contain the Ultra name, but this could just be Apple signaling that the price tier is a group of products, and that the name will follow later. On a side note, this display, while still an okay deal, is not my favorite display. The power cord, it looks, is still permanently attached, as is the stand, which is frankly unacceptable for any monitor in 2026, especially one that costs $3,299. This stand is also height-adjustable, but it does not include the ability to pivot, again, a major sacrifice. The fall back to 5K from 6K and 27-inches from 32-inches is not horrible, but also not great. The most difficult thing is the 120Hz. Finally, Apple ships a monitor that uses 120Hz, but because of the 5K resolution, even modern Macs with Apple silicon only run it at 60Hz. It is frustrating that it is limited because of a Thunderbolt issue.

Either way, this new Ultra brand for Apple is an interesting one and could unify their marketing more. We will have to wait and see what Apple does soon.