Apple has taken the Dynamic Island, the shape-shifting interface it introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, and put it on a Mac for the first time. It arrives on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the new PROLED XDR display, which Apple announced on October 28.
According to Apple's press release, the Dynamic Island on the Mac becomes the place where three things live: Spotlight search, Live Activities and Siri AI. The company describes it as a quick way to see and act on important information without leaving the app you are working in. Users can search the Mac, ask Siri a question, pick up a phone call or control music playback from the same spot.
Live Activities are the ongoing, glanceable updates familiar from the iPhone. Apple says they now show up on the Mac, and that people can accept an AirDrop request or pause a song with a tap of a finger. That ties the feature to the other headline change in the new MacBook Pro, which is the first Mac to support touch input. Apple's images of the feature show a song playing in Apple Music, a Spotlight search and a Siri AI session, each expanding from the Dynamic Island at the top of the display.
MacRumors, which covered the launch, notes that Touch ID stays on the keyboard and that Face ID does not come to the Mac with this redesign. The new models also include a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera, according to Apple.
The Dynamic Island started on the iPhone as a software-driven way to make use of the cutout for the front camera, expanding and changing shape to show alerts, timers and controls. Bringing it to the Mac extends the same idea to a laptop, where the area at the top of the screen has until now mostly been fixed in function.
Apple's release also covers the rest of the redesign. That includes the tandem OLED display, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, up to 16TB of storage and up to 24 hours of battery life. Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer, called the new MacBook Pro a "monumental step forward for the Mac" in the company's announcement.
Pre-orders began on October 28, and the new MacBook Pro goes on sale on Friday, November 6. MacRumors reports U.S. pricing starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch model and $3,399 for the 16-inch model.
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