Apple Is Reportedly Working On MacBooks With Touchscreens

Apple might finally be getting around to adding touchscreens to MacBooks after years of resistance. Apple is reportedly working on this project and may deviate from its long-standing strategy of creating a conventional desktop system without a touchscreen. According to Bloomberg, this move would defy Apple’s long-held practice and embrace an approach that co-founder Steve Jobs once called “ergonomically terrible.”

Reports making rounds also say Apple may introduce touchscreen-equipped MacBooks by 2025 as part of a new MacBook Pro series. The business may replace the LCD and OLED screens on the 14-inch and 16-inch Pro models as part of this lineup redesign.

Sources familiar with the project say, Apple engineers are working actively on it, which suggests that the company is seriously considering creating touch-screen Macs for the first time. Although a launch has not yet been decided, things could change, but the earlier time this may roll out is 2025. 

In the past decade, the company has claimed that touch screens don’t function well on laptops and that the iPad is a superior choice for users who want a touch interface. On the other hand,  Apple is also concerned that the sales of the iPad may be harmed by introducing touch-screen Macs. But the company has gone ahead to generate more revenue with the Mac than the iPad, thanks to a recent Mac resurgence, the company wants to maintain a competitive position with this computer lineup and is resolved on taking the ideas for touch screens more seriously.

Apple seems to be the lone holdout among major computer makers to not offer such a line-up, as numerous competitors including Dell, HP, Microsoft, Lenovo, Samsung, and Acer, have all launched computers equipped with touch screens.

Apple also intends to switch its displays over to organic light-emitting diode, or OLED technology as part of the MacBook Pro makeover. Apple presently employs liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for its Macs, although OLED is already used in iPhones and Apple Watches. In the first half of 2024, such screens, which offer better brightness and colour, will also be available for the iPad Pro.

Apple’s first touch-screen MacBook Pro will still have a traditional laptop form with a trackpad and keyboard. However, exactly like an iPhone or iPad, the laptop’s screen would accept touch input and gestures. Apple might eventually add touch capabilities to additional Mac models.

Should this touch-screen idea come out successful with the new Mac, that would be a huge turnabout for Apple. The late Jobs claimed that it “doesn’t work” for computer users to reach up and touch an upright screen. Tim Cook, Jobs’s successor as CEO, continued to hold a similar view for the longest time. He claimed in 2012 that combining tablets and laptops by Microsoft Corp. was like combining a toaster and a refrigerator. But one thing significant is that we have seen Apple take a reverse course in a number of areas. Proof of that happened after Jobs once stated that Apple would not sell phones or tablets, today everyone knows this market has turned out to be crucial and a big deal for the company. So Apple’s move with the touch-screen is another change in its strategy, a good one at that.

Another change in course the company has considered happened in 2018 when it began combining its programs, bringing iPad apps to the Mac. It did the same for apps created by outside developers the next year. The company began allowing iPhone apps to run on its PCs in 2020. However, that particular change has drawn attention to Mac’s lack of touch capabilities. It can be difficult to use an app created for the iPhone on a Mac.

According to the sources familiar with the matter, even with the touch screen trend turning around, Apple isn’t actively working to integrate the iPad and Mac operating systems. The first Macs with touch screens will probably run on macOS until an official announcement is made, we’ll all just keep on guessing.

In the past users have requested Macs with touch-screen ability, it’s comforting to know that the company has finally listened and is making plans towards satisfying this demand.