Following the release of the new iPads with an M1 chip, there is a question that often comes up:when will Apple offer aMacBook with a touch screen? If the question arises, it is because iPads have shared more and more similarities with MacBooks in recent years.
As a result, many users are expressing their desire for a touchscreen MacBook. This, because despiteperformance that now rivals Apple computers, the new iPads run iPadOS. Which therefore implies less choice and freedom regarding what can be done with it.
In a recent interview with Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal, Apple marketing chief Tom Boger explained that this was not planned, and shared Apple's vision on the matter.
These are not competing devices
According to him, iPad and Mac are not competitors, but complementary. He claims that the iPad has always been touch-based, while the Mac has always been intended for "indirect manipulation". Mark Gurman has sparked rumors that Apple is planning to release a potential touchscreen MacBook in 2025, but Tom Boger doesn't seem to agree. When the marketing manager was asked if Apple would one day release a touch screen, he did not give a favorable answer, and even seemed to have denied it. Here's what the Wall Street Journal interview says about it:
He remained firm: iPads are for touchscreen, Macs are not. “MacOS addresses a very different computing paradigm,” he said. He explained that many customers own both types of devices and see the iPad as a way to "extend" work from a Mac. Apple's Continuity easily lets you work across multiple devices, he said.
Steve Jobs didn't want it at all
During his lifetime, Steve Jobs had already stated his firm opposition to a touchscreen Mac. During a press conference on October 20, 2010, the founder of Apple declared:
After a short period of time you start to get tired and after a longer period your arm feels like falling off. It doesn't work, it's an ergonomic disaster
He also said that touch surfaces should not be vertical like on a laptop, and it is true that this is important, because the main argument was ergonomics. However, looking at the competition, we see that this is no longer really a problem with 360° foldable PCs. Perhaps Apple will offer a touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro with a similar system, allowingno longer be cluttered with the keyboard.
