According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple is developing a MacBook with a touch screen. This move contrasts with the company’s established idea that a touch screen is not needed in laptops. Steve Jobs himself once called such a decision “ergonomically terrible.” Apple engineers are actively involved in the project – according to insiders, the company is taking this idea seriously for the first time. However, the project is far from the final stage, and plans may change.
For more than a decade, Apple has argued that touch screens are unnecessary in laptops and that the iPad is the best option for using a touch interface. The company also believed that touch-screen computers could reduce sales of the iPad. But competitors from the PC world are increasingly adding touch screens to laptops and all-in-ones, and Apple is stuck doing the same. The resurgence of user interest in MacBooks and iMacs in recent years has also made this line of Apple’s business even more profitable than the iPad, and the company saw a way to make its line of computers even more attractive.
Premium MacBook Pros will be the first to have touchscreens. The terms of the project require the laptop to retain a traditional design, including a conventional trackpad and keyboard. At the same time, its screen should support touch input and gestures – just like on an iPhone or iPad. Over time, Apple may expand support for the new input method to more Mac models.
As part of the MacBook Pro modernization, the company also plans to switch the laptop displays to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology. Currently, the company installs LCD displays in them, but the iPhone and Apple Watch are already equipped with OLED displays. Also, these screens will appear on the iPad Pro in the first half of 2024. In the future, the company plans to transfer its devices to miniLED technology of its own development, which should debut in the Apple watch Ultra smart watch in 2024-2025.
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At the same time, according to insiders, Apple is not actively working on unifying the iPad and Mac operating systems, even despite the change in the form of touch screens. The first MacBooks with them will most likely run macOS.
For years, some of Apple’s customers have been asking for touchscreen MacBooks. The company tried to go to the meeting, releasing in 2016 laptops with Touch Bar – a touch strip on the keyboard. However, the panel was considered a failure – it confused users and did not inspire enthusiasm among application developers. Apple stopped its implementation in 2021.
Steve Jobs once argued that the idea that computer users relate to a vertical screen doesn’t work.
“Touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical,” he said in 2010. “After a long period of time, your hand will want to fall off.”
Jobs’ successor, Tim Cook, also followed this position. In 2012, he said that combining tablets and laptops in Microsoft’s performance is like combining a toaster with a refrigerator.
But Apple has shown through its history that it can radically change course. Previously, Jobs also said that the company will not sell phones or tablets – these areas are now the key business.
According to insiders, Apple could release its first laptop with a touch screen in 2025, updating the MacBook Pro line.
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