The upcoming Linux 6.15 kernel is expected to incorporate two new direct rendering manager (DRM) display drivers for supporting the Apple TouchBar tiny touch display strip on older Intel x86 Macs, as well as a newer "ADP" driver for handling the Apple TouchBar display on the newer M1/M2 MacBooks.
Supporting Apple's TouchBar on Linux has been a long process. In fact, Apple removed the TouchBar from its Macs back in 2023, and now in 2025, Linux can finally support them on these older Macs. As I wrote a month ago, TouchBar backlight and keyboard mode drivers will be submitted for the upcoming Linux 6.15 merge window. In addition to this, the DRM display driver for controlling the display output on these OLED display strips will also be released in the next kernel version.
The "ADP" driver for supporting Apple TouchBar displays on M1/M2 AppleSilicon devices, and the "appletbdrm" driver for Apple TouchBar displays on Intelx86-based Macs were sent to DRM-Next today via the weekly drm-misc-nextpull. ADP here refers to the "AppleDisplayPipe" controller.
So, for those who want to operate the Apple TouchBar outside of the mainline kernel, if no more issues arise before release, these new drivers will become part of the Linux 6.15 kernel, more than seven years after the TouchBar was first launched.
drm-misc-nextpull Today's drm-misc-nextpull also adds a new code helper for the TTM shrinker so that the IntelXe driver can use it, support for HDMI audio in the Synopsys bridge driver, and support for the RK3576 SoC in the Rockchip DRM driver, among other changes.
The Linux 6.15 merge window is expected to open at the end of March after the release of v6.14. The stable version of Linux 6.15 should be released around the end of May.