Apple works to add touch screens to its Mac computers

Apple is working to add touch screens to its Mac computersa move that would challenge the company’s orthodoxy and take an approach co-founder Steve Jobs once called “ergonomically terrible.”

engineers from Apple They are actively participating in the project, indicating that the company is seriously considering producing Macs with touch screens for the first time, according to people familiar with the efforts. Still, a release hasn’t been finalized and plans could change.

For more than a decade, the company has argued that touch screens don’t work well on laptops and that the iPad is a better option if someone wants such an interface. Apple is also concerned that touchscreen Macs could cannibalize iPad sales.

But rivals have increasingly added touch screens to computers, putting pressure on Apple to do the same. The resurgence of the Mac in recent years has also made the business more lucrative than the iPadand the company wants to keep its line of computers as attractive as possible.

Based on current internal discussions, the company could launch its first touchscreen Mac in 2025 as part of a larger update to the Mac. MacBook Proaccording to the people who asked not to be identified because the plans are private.

A representative for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.

Apple shares gained 2.1% to $133.49 on Thursday and are up 2.7% so far in 2023.

A big change for Apple

Current work calls for Apple’s first touchscreen MacBook Pro to retain a traditional laptop design, including a standard trackpad and keyboard. But the laptop screen would support touch input and gestures, just like an iPhone or iPad. Over time, Apple could expand touch support to more Mac models.

As part of the renovation of the MacBook ProApple also plans to switch its displays to organic light-emitting diodes or technology Oled. The company currently uses LCD screens (liquid crystal displays) in its Macs, but the iPhone y Apple Watch they already depend on Oled. Those screens offer improved brightness and color and will also come to the iPad Pro in the first half of 2024.

If the touchscreen Mac moves forward, that would be a significant change. The late Jobs said the idea of ​​computer users touching a vertical screen “doesn’t work.”

“Touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical,” he said in 2010. “After an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off.”

Jobs’ successor as CEO, Tim Cook, maintained that position in more recent years. In 2012, he said that Microsoft Corp.’s combination of tablets and laptops was equivalent to combining a toaster with a refrigerator.

But Apple has changed course in other areas. Jobs also said that Apple would not sell a phone or a tablet, and those became key businesses for the company.

And Apple’s laptop competitors, including Dell Technologies, HP, Microsoft, Lenovo, Samsung Electronics and Acer, have pushed ahead with touch screens. Apple is now the only major computer manufacturer not to offer such a product.

Change of course at Apple

In 2018, the company began combining its apps and brought them from the iPad to the Mac. The following year, it did the same for those from third-party developers. In 2020, the company started allowing iPhone apps to run on its computers.

But that transition has highlighted the Mac’s lack of touch support. Using an app designed for an iPhone on the Mac can be a frustrating experience.

Even with the rollback of touch screens, Apple is not actively working to combine the iPad and Mac operating systems, people familiar with the situation said. The first touchscreen Macs are likely to use macOS.

For years, some Apple customers have asked for touch-enabled Macs, and the company had already tried to satisfy those users. In 2016, he launched Touch Bar, a virtual strip on the keyboard that controlled functions. The feature was a flop, confusing consumers and never gaining enough traction with app developers. Apple discontinued the feature in 2021 on the high-end MacBook Pro.

Last October, Apple seemed less hostile to the idea of ​​touchscreen Macs. When asked about the outlook at a conference, head of software engineering Craig Federighi replied, “Who’s to say?”