Apple considering 2025 debut of touchscreen MacBook Pro

Credit: Apple

Apple is allegedly working on adding touchscreens to its MacBook lineup, despite the previous assertion that the feature does not work well.

While Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had called touchscreen laptops "ergonomically terrible," a new rumor suggests that the company is gearing up to add a touchscreen to its MacBook Pro.

According to Bloomberg, the feature will make its debut in 2025 on an OLED MacBook Pro and will support both touch input and gestures.

Despite adding a touchscreen, the proposed model would still retain a traditional laptop design with a trackpad and keyboard.

While the company previously decried the idea of a touchscreen Mac, signs suggest it may be reversing its stance.

In 2019, Apple introduced Mac Catalyst, a way for developers to build apps that worked on both iPad and Mac.

In 2020, Apple gave Apple Silicon Macs the ability to run iPhone and iPad apps natively.

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43 Comments

netrox

said about 1 year ago

It's much needed, people keep touching the displays nowadays.

avon b7

said about 1 year ago

netrox said:

It's much needed, people keep touching the displays nowadays.

Definitely needed. Switching from a tablet to a laptop often gets moving my finger towards the screen.

It would be a nice addition to functionality.

I'd prefer 3:2 aspect ratio too.

StrangeDays

said about 1 year ago

Definitely not needed as it’s a gimmick feature. Had them on work Windows machines and they were an oft forgotten about annoyance. Reaching up to the touch the screen when your hands are on the keyboard is baaad, m’kay?

bloggerblog

said about 1 year ago

JP234 said:

I don't know why a laptop with a full sized keyboard and a touch sensitive trackpad would benefit from a touchscreen. The screens on my iPhone, iPad and car all get gross after one day of use. The MacBook Air stays clean, and only needs dusting every week or two.

Correct, users can perform any touch task with their massive touchpad and without having to move their entire arm to the screen. I wouldn't be surprised if the leak Bloomberg received is for a new type of device. 2025 sounds too long-term for simply adding a touch display into an OS that already knows touch.

danox

said about 1 year ago

JP234 said:

I don't know why a laptop with a full sized keyboard and a touch sensitive trackpad would benefit from a touchscreen. The screens on my iPhone, iPad and car all get gross after one day of use. The MacBook Air stays clean, and only needs dusting every week or two.

It doesn’t at the end of a long… working day reaching up to a laptop screen, or a desktop screen doesn’t work too well but it does on iPhones and iPads. They were designed to work that way from the get-go don’t complicate things Apple.

Windows, using the touchscreen, ribbons, dos prompts, is a mismatch of UI elements. Hopefully Apple won’t go down that road, concentrate on getting Stage Manager to work better than what it is right now.