The MacBook Pro is seen inside the Apple Carnegie Library store on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Apple is expected to release two new macOS laptops, the MacBook Pro M5 Pro and the MacBook Pro M5 Max, in the coming months. While Apple hasn’t sent out the press releases, it did give the community a hint that an early release could be on the cards.
The next MacBook Pro is ready to go
The first is, simply put, it’s due to the new, business-focused MacBook Pro models. THE Apple Silicon M5 chipset arrived on October 15, 2025and ships with the consumer-focused Apple Vision Pro, iPad Pro, and 14-inch MacBook Pro.
Previous MacBook Pro models have seen the vanilla processor variant outperform the MacBook Air with the same chipset due to minor hardware changes, including active fan cooling. 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 that Apple is on track to launch these premium MacBooks in the first quarter of 2026.
While we have an M5-equipped MacBook Pro, we don’t have an M5-equipped MacBook Air. It’s likely that Apple will hold it 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 on launch time rather than specs. As for the 12-inch MacBook, the long-rumored budget model could be a Back To School release.
Here comes the tempting MacBook Pro software package
Then you have the recent announcement of Apple Creator Studio. This is a subscription package, paid monthly or annually, that includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage and extended editions of Keynote, Pages, Numbers and Freeform. Although announced this week, the bundle – presumably with updates to these creative apps – will be available “…on the App Store from Wednesday 28 January, for £12.99 a month or £129 a year.”
These apps, while used by many consumers, are geared, as the package names suggest, to creatives. And it’s the creatives who need the extra capability of the Apple Silicon M5 Pro and M5 Max variants. If you were to release this bundle of apps, wouldn’t you want to mark the new hardware as offering the best overall package?
If Creator Studio arrives on January 28th, then surely the business-focused MacBook Pro laptops will be revealed at the same time?
Will it be a MacBook Pro Wednesday?
Apple loves mid-week hardware releases, so it shouldn’t escape anyone’s attention that January 28th is a Wednesday. The launch is likely to happen “via press release,” as opposed to a large-scale invite-only event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. The timing is much more flexible than the fixed point of an iPhone’s release, but traditions remain as well Deliveries make Tuesdays and Wednesdays attractive.
Three steps to a new MacBook Pro
Without Apple sending out the invitations, those looking to uncover the release date and subsequent release of the M5 Pro or M5 Max MacBook Pro models at retail should be on the lookout for signs and signs. A new subscription package with apps tailored to the needs of creatives that work best on the latest Apple Silicon is one such sign.
