Report: Touchscreen Mac with OLED could be called “MacBook Ultra”
After the Neo comes the Ultra: According to Bloomberg, Apple will launch a high-end notebook by autumn. Marketing is facing a restructuring.
A new MacBook – here an old one – will likely be opened in the fall.
(Image: Omar Tursic / Shutterstock.com)
Apple's marketing department is working overtime. After inventing the new name “MacBook Neo” for the entry-level notebook being launched this week launched this week, a new high-end notebook class is apparently also planned. This is reported by the usually well-informed Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman in his newsletter from Sunday. The presumed name of the device planned for autumn could be “MacBook Ultra” – to round off the MacBook line at the top. This would mean Apple soon has four notebook lines on the market: MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Ultra.
The Ultra will be expensiv(er)
The new naming would help Apple charge higher prices without having to increase prices for existing product lines: MacBook Pro with M5 and the newly introduced models with M5 Pro and M5 Max could remain on the market, with the Ultra being added. However, Gurman qualifies that there is no final decision yet. However, it is clear that Apple is moving into upscale market segments.
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The Ultra is said to stand out through several innovations: it is the first MacBook with an OLED screen and allegedly also the first Mac with a touchscreen as an additional operating option for macOS. When Apple first equipped its iPad 2024 with OLED screens, the company used the hardware improvement to increase prices by up to 25 percent. Apple could act similarly with the Ultra, especially since the touchscreen also serves as a distinguishing feature from “normal” MacBooks. However, the iPad Pro was not renamed, but Apple completely replaced the existing devices with OLED models.
Neo, Pro, Max, Ultra, Extreme, Air
Other Ultra products are also planned by Apple, Gurman continues. The iPhone foldable planned for autumn will also be placed in this segment – also because it is expected to cost at least 2000 US dollars. Whether the name will actually be implemented remains unclear – Apple could also stick with the simple "fold," although this is used by Samsung for foldables, among others. Gurman also sees improved AirPods, for example with a camera, as a possible new Ultra product above the AirPods Pro – also because AirPods Max is already “occupied” by the Apple over-ears.
Apple currently uses the term in three areas: For the Apple Watch Ultra as the top model of its computer watches, for CarPlay Ultra as an improved iPhone-vehicle integration (which, however, is catching on slowly), and for the M3 Ultra as the top model among chips (which, however, confusingly competes with the M4 Max in the Mac Studio). Overall, Apple's strategy seems to be to cover the broadest possible target groups in the future: from the entry-level model MacBook Neo up to the MacBook Ultra. The designations are likely to cause considerable user confusion, at least initially, especially since we will likely keep “Pro” and “Max,” and “Air” certainly too. After all, there are also constant reports that Apple is working on an even faster Ultra chip – as a twin chip under the designation “Extreme.”
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