First Touchscreen Mac: Apple is not planning a "Touch-first" approach
According to credible reports, Apple will integrate a touch-sensitive screen into MacBooks for the first time. However, it will not be an iPad-macOS hybrid.
MacBook Pro – still completely without touch.
(Image: Nanain / Shutterstock.com)
It is expected to happen in the fall or winter: According to insiders, Apple plans to install a touchscreen in a Mac for the first time. However, the hardware change does not represent a fundamental change in strategy, claims the usually well-informed Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman: A fusion of MacBook and iPad is not planned, it will not become a hybrid machine. The reason is simple: Apple does not intend to turn two lucrative product lines into just one.
Touch as a “Bonus”
The new touchscreen Mac – presumably in the form of a redesigned MacBook Pro – is therefore intended to be “touch-friendly” but not “touch-first.” The idea is that users should be able to switch between finger and keyboard control relatively comfortably. Neither the full-size keyboard nor the trackpad is expected to change; instead, macOS will be adapted so that it can also be operated with fingers. Some groundwork has already been done with Apple's Liquid Glass interface in macOS 26, and with macOS 27, menus, icons, and other controls are expected to adapt automatically depending on how the user works. The machine is not supposed to feel like an iPad, according to Gurman. It is the MacBook that has been known for two decades – touch serves as a “bonus.”
Videos by heise
The hardware will also not change in terms of form factor. For example, the screen will not be foldable to the back to use the Mac in pure tablet mode. How comfortable touch operation will be within a notebook arrangement remains to be seen – even Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away in 2011, complained years ago that it could potentially cause your arm to fall off. The result was the iPad as a separate product category.
Revenue Questions and a Huge Foldable
Nevertheless, Apple wants to avoid cannibalizing its revenue from Macs and iPads. Both iPads and Macs contribute around 30 billion US dollars in revenue annually. However, there are also other plans internally. Apple is reportedly still working on a foldable iPad with a (very) large screen. However, the device is not expected to hit the market before 2029. By then, Apple might reconsider its separation between Mac and iPad.
Before that, according to Gurman, Apple wants to launch the first MacBook Air with an OLED display, but likely not before 2028 and without a touchscreen.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
(bsc)
