MacBook Pro is displayed inside of the Apple Carnegie Library store on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
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Apple is expected to launch two new macOS laptops, the MacBook Pro M5 Pro and the MacBook Pro M5 Max, in the next few months. While Apple hasn’t sent out the press releases, it has given the community a pointer that an early launch could be on the cards.
The Next MacBook Pro Is Ready For Departure
The first is, put simply, that the new, professionally-focused MacBook Pro models are due. The Apple Silicon M5 chipset arrived on Oct. 15 2025, and shipped in the Apple Vision Pro, the iPad Pro and the 14-inch consumer-focused MacBook Pro.
Previous MacBook Pro models have seen the vanilla processor variant outpace the MacBook Air with the same chipset due to minor hardware changes, including active cooling via a fan. In terms of power and performance, the vanilla Pro is easily eclipsed in power and performance by the Pro and Max chipsets.
We currently have the MacBook Pro M5, but we don’t yet have the MacBook Pro with M5 Pro or the MacBook Pro with M5 Max. Details from the supply chain suggest Apple is on track to launch these premium MacBooks in the first quarter of 2026.
While we have an M5-powered MacBook Pro, we don’t have an M5-equipped MacBook Air. It’s likely that Apple will hold this back until much later in the year. With performance expected to be just 15 percent lower than the M5 MacBook Pro, the populist MacBook Air will live in a part of the portfolio based around the time of release, rather than the specifications. As for the 12-inch MacBook, the long-rumoured budget model could be a Back To School release.
The MacBook Pro’s Tempting Software Package Is Coming
Then you have the recent annoucnement of the Apple Creator Studio. This is a subscription bundle, paid monthly or yearly, that includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage, and extended versions of Keynote, Pages, Numbers and Freeform. Although announced this week, the package – potentially with updates to these creative apps – will be available “…on the App Store beginning Wednesday, January 28, for £12.99 per month or £129 per year.”
These apps, while used by many consumers, are geared, as the package names suggest, towards creatives. And it’s creatives that need the extra capability of the Apple Silicon M5 Pro and M5 Max variants. If you were going to launch this bundle of apps, wouldn’t you want to signal the new hardware that will offer the best overall package?
If the Creator Studio is arriving on Jan. 28, then the professionally focused MacBook Pro laptops should surely be revealed at the same time?
Will It Be A MacBook Pro Wednesday?
Apple loves its midweek hardware launches, so it shouldn’t escape anyone’s notice that Jan. 28 is a Wednesday. The launch is likely to be “by press release,’ as opposed to a large-scale invitational event at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. The timing is far more flexible than the fixed point of an iPhone launch, but traditions remain, and traditions make Tuesdays and Wednesdays attractive.
Three Steps To A New MacBook Pro
Short of Apple sending out the invitations, those looking to divine the launch date and subsequent retail release of the M5 Pro or M5 Max MacBook Pro models need to be alert to the signals and the signs. A new subscription package with applications tailored to creatives’ needs that work best on the latest Apple Silicon is one such sign.