According to reports, Apple is developing touchscreen MacBooks

Apple might finally be getting around to adding touchscreens to MacBooks after years of resistance and hatred. Apple is reportedly aggressively working on this project and may depart from its long-standing strategy of creating a conventional desktop system without a touchscreen, according to Bloomberg.

According to the Bloomberg story, Apple may introduce touchscreen-equipped MacBooks by 2025 as part of a new MacBook Pro series. The business may replace the LCD and OLED screens on the 14-inch and 16-inch Pro models as part of this lineup redesign.

Another Bloomberg report from earlier this week said that Apple intended to produce its own screens for the iPhone and Apple Watch. There was no mention of the business developing displays for its Mac series, either.

The position that touchscreens are not required on MacBooks has been upheld for a long time by Apple executives. Instead, they have been encouraging folks to test out an iPad if they want a sizable touchscreen computer for years. The TouchBar on the keyboard, which is slowly being phased out, was the closest Apple has ever been to introducing a touchscreen on a Mac.

The iPad is currently the best touchscreen “computer,” according to Apple. If the business wants to introduce MacBooks with touchscreens, it could have to gradually depart from that narrative. Microsoft is one of Apple’s rivals who has created a lengthy line of touchscreen laptops with various form factors.

In 2010, Steve Jobs famously referred to laptop touchscreens as “ergonomically horrible.”

We conducted a ton of user testing on this, and it turns out that it is ineffective. Touch surfaces want to be horizontal. It delivers a terrific demonstration, but after a short while, you start to get tired, and after a long while, your arm starts to feel like it wants to come off. It’s uncomfortable and doesn’t work, he had stated. But since then, technology has advanced, and Apple has also unveiled products like the Apple Pencil, another concept for a device that Jobs detested.

More recently, Apple senior VP Craig Federighi indicated he is “not into touchscreens” and described touchscreen PCs as “experiments.”

On the plus side, if Apple decides to move forward with this idea, iOS apps on MacBooks may perform better. Project Catalyst was the first product the business unveiled in 2020 to bring iOS apps to desktop computers.

The iPhone manufacturer is straddling a tricky line. On the one hand, it has recently enhanced the performance of its iPads by equipping them with desktop-class CPUs, respectable add-on keyboards, and a variety of desktop capabilities. Apple will therefore need to maintain enough diversity between the two lineups in order to continue selling both iPad and touchscreen MacBooks.