Apple Sunset

MacBook Pro 15-inch (2016)

Discontinued 5 Jun 2017

Released

14 Nov 2016

Announced

27 Oct 2016

Pre-orders opened

27 Oct 2016

Launch price from

$2,399

Discontinued

5 Jun 2017

Lifespan

7 months

Category
MacBook Pro
Status
Discontinued
Apple support status
Obsolete (Apple no longer services it)
Release type
Refresh of an existing model
Previous model
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
Replaced by
MacBook Pro 15-inch (2017)
Official Apple page
No longer available on Apple’s website
Tech specs
Apple specs ↗
Press release
Apple Newsroom ↗
More information
MacBook Pro (Intel-based) on Wikipedia ↗

Notes

Apple sold the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2016) from $2,399, with a 15.4-inch screen, 16GB of memory and four processor cores. The body was 14 per cent thinner and nearly half a pound lighter than the model before it, which Apple called the thinnest and lightest design it had made for the Pro line.

The Touch Bar was introduced on the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2016), a thin touchscreen strip where the row of function keys had been. It changed what it showed depending on which program was open, so the controls in Mail were not the controls in Safari, and the Escape key became part of it rather than a key of its own.

Touch ID came with it, set into the power button at the end of the strip. Apple called this the first MacBook Pro to have it. A chip Apple designed itself, the T1, held the fingerprint data, and the same button could unlock the machine, switch between accounts and pay for things on the web.

Every socket was replaced by the same one. Four Thunderbolt 3 ports and a headphone jack were all that remained, which took away MagSafe, HDMI, the SD card slot and the older rectangular USB ports in one go. Any of the four could charge the laptop or drive a 5K display, but older accessories needed an adapter.

Eight days after the announcement Apple cut the price of those adapters, saying it recognised that many users, especially professionals, relied on older connectors to get their work done. The USB-C to USB adapter went from $19 to $9 and the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter from $49 to $29, for the rest of that year.

Apple also kept the 2015 model on sale, so for twenty months a buyer could choose between the new design and an older, cheaper one that still had all the old ports. The 2015 machine was not withdrawn until July 2018.

The screen reached 500 nits, which Apple put at 67 per cent brighter than before, and it was the first on a Mac laptop to support a wider range of colour. The trackpad was twice the size of the previous 15-inch one. A second-generation butterfly keyboard went underneath, and the battery held 76 watt-hours, rated at up to 10 hours of web browsing.

Apple replaced it on 5 June 2017 with a model that changed only the processor and the graphics, so the body introduced here stayed in the range until the 16-inch arrived in November 2019.

It was announced on 27 October 2016 at the ‘hello again’ event. Orders opened the same day, while the first machines reached customers on 14 November and Apple Stores had it the day after, priced from $2,399.

Check out the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2017) that replaced it.

MacBook Pro release history

  1. 2026

  2. 11 Mar 2026

    MacBook Pro M5 Pro and M5 Max ReleasedCurrent

  3. 3 Mar 2026

    MacBook Pro (M4) Discontinued

  4. ↑ 4 months later
  5. 2025

  6. 22 Oct 2025

    Macbook Pro M5 ReleasedCurrent

  7. ↑ about 1 year later
  8. 2024

  9. 8 Nov 2024

    MacBook Pro (M4) Released

  10. 30 Oct 2024

    MacBook Pro (M3) Discontinued

  11. ↑ about 1 year later
  12. 2023

  13. 7 Nov 2023

    MacBook Pro (M3) Released

  14. 30 Oct 2023

    MacBook Pro (M2 Pro / M2 Max) Discontinued

  15. ↑ 9 months later

  16. 24 Jan 2023

    MacBook Pro (M2 Pro / M2 Max) Released

  17. 17 Jan 2023

    MacBook Pro (M1 Pro / M1 Max) Discontinued

  18. ↑ 1 year, 3 months later
  19. 2021

  20. 26 Oct 2021

    MacBook Pro (M1 Pro / M1 Max) Released

  21. 18 Oct 2021

    MacBook Pro 16-inch (2019) Discontinued

  22. ↑ about 2 years later
  23. 2019

  24. 13 Nov 2019

    MacBook Pro 16-inch (2019) Released

    MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) Discontinued

  25. ↑ 6 months later

  26. 21 May 2019

    MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) Released

    MacBook Pro 15-inch (2018) Discontinued

  27. ↑ 10 months later
  28. 2018

  29. 12 Jul 2018

    MacBook Pro 15-inch (2018) Released

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) Discontinued

    MacBook Pro 15-inch (2017) Discontinued

  30. ↑ about 1 year later
  31. 2017

  32. 5 Jun 2017

    MacBook Pro 15-inch (2017) Released

    MacBook Pro 15-inch (2016) Discontinued

  33. ↑ 7 months later
  34. 2016

  35. 14 Nov 2016

    MacBook Pro 15-inch (2016) Released

  36. ↑ 1 year, 6 months later
  37. 2015

  38. 19 May 2015

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) Released

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) Discontinued

  39. ↑ 10 months later
  40. 2014

  41. 29 Jul 2014

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) Released

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) Discontinued

  42. ↑ 9 months later
  43. 2013

  44. 22 Oct 2013

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) Released

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) Discontinued

  45. ↑ 8 months later

  46. 13 Feb 2013

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) Released

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) Discontinued

  47. ↑ 8 months later
  48. 2012

  49. 11 Jun 2012

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) Released

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