Adrian Mühlroth

January 13, 2023, 7:27 pm | Read time: 3 minutes

For a long time, a MacBook with a touchscreen seemed unthinkable. Apple founder Steve Jobs once considered the concept unergonomic, and even after his death, Apple did not deviate from this stance–until now.

Apple is reportedly working on a MacBook with a touchscreen

In a press conference in October 2022, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president for software development, was unusually open to the question of whether touchscreens could come to MacBooks. Instead of a clear “No,” which had always been the answer to this question, he left the topic open with a “who can say”:

Here you will find content from third-party providers

To interact with or display third-party content, we need your consent.

Activate

In order to display embedded content, your consent to the processing of personal data, which can be revoked at any time (via the switch or via “Revoke tracking and cookies” at the bottom of the page), is required. Data may be transferred to third countries such as the USA (Art. 49 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). By switching to “on” you agree. You can find more information here.

Now, a Bloomberg report has revealed that Apple is indeed working on implementing touchscreens in MacBooks. According to people familiar with the matter, Apple’s engineers are actively working on finding a solution. This suggests that the company is currently exploring various new features for a future MacBook. This process is not unusual, and often several projects run in parallel. If there are difficulties in implementation or costs become too high, the project may be discontinued. Bloomberg writes: “The launch is not yet finalized, and plans could change.”

So far, strict separation between iPad and MacBook

Nevertheless, the mere fact that Apple is considering integrating touchscreens into MacBooks is a surprising turn. Since the introduction of the iPad, the company has maintained a strict separation between the two product categories. The argument is that an iPad is better suited for touch input, while a MacBook’s fixed display is unergonomic. Additionally, the iPad is a very important product category for Apple, capturing more than half of the entire tablet market (Source: Statcounter). In contrast, Macs account for only about 8.5 percent of the computer market (Source: Statista). With MacBooks featuring touchscreens, Apple could potentially compete with itself. Recently, the company has gone in the opposite direction, turning the iPad into a laptop replacement with the Magic Keyboard.

https://oembed/techbook/affiliate/f36c99f6139226e573ff32e42f320cfd45dea5133a47e02d51ad38ad69e0fe6c/b6e44ea0-940f-43c7-93ea-971f6546c765/embed

According to Bloomberg, Apple could introduce a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen and other major changes in 2025. There is also talk of switching from LCD displays to OLED panels, which offer better black levels and higher brightness. OLED displays are already used in the iPhone and Apple Watch, for example. Even with touch functionality, the MacBook is expected to continue running macOS, which remains independent of iPadOS.

More on the topic

Completely Revamped Exclusive iPhone Feature Likely Coming to MacBook

Report by Bloomberg New MacBook Design May Be Exclusive to OLED Version

MacBooks already support touch-optimized apps

With touch input, Apple could also enhance the functionality of MacBooks. Since 2018, macOS has supported iPad apps, and since 2020, iPhone apps. However, using these apps with a trackpad and keyboard often proves impractical. The only previous approach to a touchscreen was the Touch Bar, which Apple first installed in a MacBook in 2016. This is a thin display strip that replaces the keyboard’s function keys and can display different buttons depending on the program. However, the Touch Bar proved impractical, leading many third-party developers not to optimize their programs for it. In 2021, Apple removed it from the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Sources

Bloomberg: “Apple Is Working on Adding Touch Screens to Macs in Major Turnabout” (accessed January 13, 2023)
Statista (accessed January 13, 2023)
Statcounter (accessed January 13, 2023)