Over the past few years Apple has shown some openness to the possibility of questioning your past choices again, going to make completely unexpected course changes on several occasions. The most famous of recent years concerns precisely the world of Macswhere the Cupertino company in 2021 has substantially disavowed all the choices made in 2016presenting MacBook Pro 14 and 16 which have partially rewound time until 2015: no more Touchbar, less slim design in favor of better dissipation and autonomy, the return of MagSafe, the card reader and the HDMI port.
This is not the only example of an Apple ready to change its mind and backtrack (even the battery percentage on iPhone is back) and this confirms that all the positions that the Cupertino house will take on, or has taken on in the past, are not set in stone but they can change. Even when these are deeply rooted in DNA of the companysuch as the choice to maintain a clear distinction between the MacBook and iPad range, with the choice never to carry the touch screens on laptops with the bitten apple.
To veto this eventuality was none other than Steve Jobswho has previously described the inclusion of a touch screen on MacBooks as something of a ergonomically terrible, as using a touch-sensitive vertical surface vertically isn’t exactly comfortable, especially after an extended period of time. However, the market did not agree with Jobs’ opinion and over the years we have seen how the touch screen has represented a very characteristic element of differentiation of a specific range of products.
It therefore seems that Apple is about to come to terms with this reality and is therefore preparing to put aside the old taboos to bring to market a MacBook equipped with a touch screen. To suggest it is nothing less than Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, one of the most knowledgeable industry experts on what is happening in the Cupertino house. As reported by the journalist – citing a source familiar with Apple’s private plans (therefore it is likely that it is internal to the company itself) -, it seems that among the options on the table of the company there is that of launch a MacBook with a touch screen in 2025going to place it inside a Massive update to the MacBook Pro range.
Subsequently this technology could also arrive on other models, probably following the response that the market will provide for a similar product. Recall that in 2024 we will see the debut of OLED panels on MacBooks, so the 2025 model should equip both a touch screen and an OLED panel, going to offer an extremely interesting combination of elements. Who knows that such a screen is not also compatible with Apple Pencil? For now it is not known.
The reason why Apple has delayed this choice so long it’s especially noticeable when you look at the company’s lineup. The role of laptop with touch display it is in fact currently covered by the range iPadsespecially from the 12.9 Pro model, which already offers the same kind of experience – in terms of interactions and with using the Magic Keyboard – that one might expect from a MacBook equipped with a touch screen.
It seems obvious that Apple is afraid that such a Mac cannibalizes your iPadmaking the existence of the Pro range even more superfluous (while lower-end models may be safe), however it seems that this trend has already begun. Yes because in recent years there has been a clear turnaround that has led to a resurgence of MacBooks and the gradual abandonment of iPads – especially on the sales front -, as the tablet of the Cupertino house has continuously failed in trying to elevate the quality of its user experiencearriving at the current scenario where it is clearly a product deliberately limited by an operating system that is too basic.
Conversely MacBooks have seen a new golden age precisely in conjunction with the transition to Apple Silicon-based SoCs, a turning point that has made the company’s laptops even more powerful, extremely silent, able to offer excellent autonomy and decidedly more attractive than the iPad proposal in many scenarios. Just think of the value introduced by a product like the MacBook Air M1, still today a perfectly fitting choice in several respects (you can find out why in our review).
In short, the cannibalization of the iPad has already begun even before the touch screen has arrived on the Mac, which is why it is likely that Apple has decided to face reality and, at this point, bet all its cards on a product that is proving to be more successful and in any case extremely important within its lineup, even more than its tablet.
Of course, the debut of the touch screen on MacBook also means the debut of the same technology on macOSso it is clear that the operating system will also need to receive a major update that allows it to interact meaningfully with interface elements. And at this point it’s unclear whether Apple will want to make the definitive switch and officially unify iPad and Mac under one software experience (since it has already happened for hardware), an eventuality also disavowed in the past by Craig Federighi, but which now appears more as an ideological taboo than as a real sensible choice. But this is a topic for another time.
