Apple rumored to be working on a touchscreen Mac

The news that many Apple enthusiasts have been waiting to hear for a while: touchscreen Macs. You might have heard a little about this news too, but in this article, we give you the complete scoop and break it down for you.

The former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs made it clear that he did not want to add touchscreens to any of Apple’s laptops. So, this was what everyone accepted: MacBooks would not ever get a touchscreen. However, the company has rethought this, according to an article published on Wednesday from Bloomberg. Apparently, Apple engineers are in the phase of brainstorming, and seriously considering the production of this idea. This news comes about a week after another Bloomberg report that predicted that Apple was considering producing its own screens for iPhones and Apple Watches.

Photo by Dmitry Chernyshov on Unsplash

Steve Jobs’ (and later Apple’s) previous argument against this idea has been for many reasons. Jobs long argued that it was “ergonomically terrible”, and there are other factors, too. A touchscreen Mac could hurt Apple’s sales of the iPad, and Apple has argued that the iPad offered a better touch interface. However, Apple’s main driving factor for their recent pivot has been pressure from competitors, especially recently, since many Windows computer brands offer a wide range of touchscreen laptops.

Current internal discussions within Apple show that their plan for releasing this new product is in the 2025 window. Of course, this is not confirmed, but is likely, according to a source involved in these deliberations.

Apple did not comment on this rumor to Bloomberg.

The current plan for this prototype is to have the touchscreen be an update to the MacBook Pro, and be one of the only changes. Another update could be switching to OLED display technology instead of LCD, a move that is already rumored to launch on the iPad Pro in 2024. Most other components such as the keyboard and trackpad should remain the same. Eventually, this touchscreen could be expanded across the MacBook lineup.

This isn’t the first time Apple went against Jobs’ opinions. They’ve introduced the Apple Pencil, an idea that Jobs also hated. Plus, Jobs said that Apple wouldn’t sell phones or tablets, and that is a key part of their business now. Tim Cook has also commented on touchscreen laptops back in 2012, saying that it was like combining a toaster with a refrigerator.

However, there have been other signs for a touchscreen laptop from Apple. They have brought many iPad applications to the Mac, and in 2020 even introduced iPhone apps. However, according to the rumor, Apple is not looking to combine the iPad and Mac platforms.

It will sure be interesting to see how Apple can differentiate the iPad and Mac lineups, since it has been making the two even closer in features lately, and this next move is not any different. Until then, we just have to wait.