Catalina leak appears to show 16-Inch MacBook Pro with separate Touch ID/Power button

MacBook-Pro Leak 16-inch

MacBook-Pro Leak 16-inch (Image credit: 9to5Mac)

What you need to know

  • A purported MacBook Pro leak appears to show a 16-inch MacBook with a separate Touch ID/Power button.
  • The image was apparently found inside macOS Catalina 10.15.1
  • The previously rumored October release no longer seems to be true.

Leaked images from macOS Catalina appear to show a 16-Inch MacBook Pro with a redesigned Touch Bar with a separate button for Touch/ID power.

According to 9to5Mac's Guilherme Rambo:

Today, an image found in the release version of macOS 10.15.1 reveals another look at the new device, showing that one of its new features will be a power / Touch ID key separated from the screen of the Touch Bar. This confirms earlier reports that also mentioned the new machine having a real escape key instead of the software one of the current models.The previous icon that was found last week has been removed from the release build of macOS Catalina 10.15.1, which could suggest the release date is not in October as some rumors were suggesting. Regardless, it's very clear from the recent leaks from Apple that the machine won't be a significant redesign as many were hoping for.

Whilst the leaked image does appear to show a separate Touch ID/Power button, there doesn't seem to be anything to suggest that the Escape key on the other side will also be a separate key. The only reason to infer this at this stage would be aesthetics. There's also no suggestion from within the report as to where exactly within the Catalina 10.15.1 beta this was found.

The 16-Inch MacBook Pro had previously been touted by some for a release this October, however with just few hours of the month left that now seems unlikely.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9