Apple sent invitations on Monday for an October 28 product launch in Los Angeles, and analysts expect the company's first touchscreen notebook.
Zoom in: The email reads "Pro and tell," pointing at high-end Pro devices running Apple's homegrown chips. The company is billing it as an Apple Experience in Los Angeles.
- Ben Reitzes, an analyst at Melius Research, wrote Monday that he expects new Macs this fall, "including a touchscreen notebook".
The big picture: For CEO John Ternus, who succeeded Tim Cook last month, Reitzes said the launch cadence marks a "meaningful shift" from what had been two events a year. This is Ternus's third launch, after an iPhone event that included the foldable Duo and a New York gathering for smart home hubs and a screened speaker called HomeView.
By the numbers: Mac sales were about 10% of Apple revenue in the most recent quarter. Apple refreshed the Mac Mini and Mac Studio with new chips in August and the MacBook Pro in the spring, alongside a low-cost MacBook Neo, while the iMac has waited since October 2024.
- Apple shares are up 26% so far this year, outperforming the S&P 500.
Yes, but: Apple spent years dismissing the idea. Software chief Craig Federighi explained in 2018 that the ergonomics of a touchscreen laptop would fatigue users.
Between the lines: Macs have become one of the strongest parts of Apple's AI story because its chips reach more memory at higher speeds than other consumer processors. Last week Apple and Meta teamed up to run a large open-weight Meta model on multiple high-end Mac Studios.
Why it matters: A touchscreen Mac would reverse a decade of stated Apple doctrine, and it lands while the company leans on the Mac to prove serious AI work can run on hardware a customer already owns rather than in someone else's data center.
