This could make Steve Jobs turn in his grave: Bloomberg editor Mark Gurman wrote yesterday that Apple is working on a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen, an input method that the company until now has seen as far from ideal for desktops and laptops.
Unnamed sources claim the first Mac with a touchscreen will arrive in 2025 as part of a major update to the MacBook Pro. The laptop would still have a keyboard and trackpad, but the touchscreen “would support touch and gestures — just like an iPhone or iPad.” Also, the touchscreens would use OLED technology, which analysts such as Ming-Chi Kuo and Ross Young were already predicting independently of this.
System issue not finally resolved
Gurmans reports that macOS will “likely” be used on those first touchscreen Macs and that the company isn’t working on combining macOS and iPadOS. However, Gurman says nothing about whether macOS will be updated with UI elements that are more touch-friendly. The current ability to use iPhone apps on a Mac is “a frustrating experience” due to the lack of touch input, according to Gurman, which could suggest that Apple may consider future touchscreen implementation for iPhone and iPad use Optimize apps on Mac
With the M1 and macOS Big Sur, Apple introduced the ability to run iOS/iPadOS apps on the Mac, although that’s more of an option than a mundane feature. Most people still use Mac apps for their work, which are designed to work with a cursor and use familiar elements that are mouse and trackpad friendly.
Apple combines toaster and refrigerator
PC manufacturers have been offering touchscreen laptops for years, and introducing a touchscreen MacBook would be a major philosophical shift for the company. The late Steve Jobs clearly expressed his aversion to touch screens, once saying that “your arm wants to fall off” when you use one. Tim Cook has stuck with this paradigm since his early days as CEO, when he answered a question on a 2012 conference call about Apple’s plans for a touchscreen laptop: “You can put a toaster and a fridge together, but you will people don’t like it.”
Times are changing, however, as Gurman testifies to when Apple’s Craig Federighi interviewed The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern, in which, when asked about a Mac with a touchscreen, Stern replied, “Who can tell.” (It should be noted, however, that Federighi made this response as a joke to Stern’s quick questions in this part of the interview).
Tag: macbook issue, macbook pro, macbook release, macbook macos