Apple could release a touchscreen MacBook Pro in 2025, and then bring finger-loving displays to its other laptops if the tech is well received.
That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reported: “Apple is now at work on a new MacBook Pro for 2025 with a touch screen, I’m told. If all goes to plan, the company will then likely add touch to its other Macs.” Gurman, who has a track record of accurate tips, noted that this will finally be a change in tact for Apple, which has long resisted the move to touchscreen — unlike some of the best Windows laptops.
If Gurman is on the money with this, well 2025 can’t come soon enough.
I’m writing this article on a MacBook Air M2, which is one of my favourite laptops ever. But the combination of its 13.6-inch display (great for working on the move) and my shoddy eyesight, means that sometimes I lose track of the cursor. This always happens at a bad time, such as when I’m on a video call and sharing my screen. So having the option to simply tap an icon on the display would trivialise my embarrassment and just make things faster. In the past, the combination of a precision trackpad and touchscreen that had me utterly love using the Microsoft Surface Laptop.
Of course, that’s just me and not everyone has such disagreeable eyes. Yet touchscreens in MacBooks would still make a lot of sense.
Touchscreen MacBooks? Count me in!
While Apple has previously been bullish on keeping its operating systems separate — albeit with some interplay between them — the winds of change appear to have blown that stance off course a little.
Over the past few years, macOS and iOS/iPadOS have been slowly getting closer together. We’ve seen the likes of the iPad Pro and iPad Air try and pull laptop duties with Magic Keyboard accessories, a macOS-like apps bar and improved cursor support. And macOS has the ability to access mobile apps.
But even the best iPads don't make for ideal laptop replacements. So taking the touchscreen to Macs seems like a better way to blend macOS with iOS.
As it stands, mobile apps on macOS are simply OK. They work with the trackpad, but are hardly the most intuitive to use, sometimes feeling like an ergonomic mess. A touchscreen would arguably fix these foibles in one fell swoop. Effectively, Apple would be bringing native control of such apps to its MacBooks, which would be a no-brainer in my mind.
Ideally, I’d then like to see the likes of a MacBook Air come with a 360-degree hinge to turn it into a solid 2-in-1 device. Apple has resisted such stuff before, likely to avoid cannibalising attention from iPads.
But ultimately, it’s something that a lot of Windows 11 laptops enable. And thanks to ultra-slim designs, these laptops are rather capable when in a pseudo-tablet mode. So at some point Apple will need to adjust to the times, especially, as Gurman notes, with a generation of future users who’ve been brought up around touchscreens.
Waiting another two years for a touchscreen MacBook does sting, especially as such displays are tipped to come to the MacBook Pros first; I feel they’d be ideal for the MacBook Air. Maybe Apple will actually be ahead of Gurman’s tip.
Nevertheless, if Apple finally adds touchscreens to macOS, it’ll make this tech journalist grin… and likely part with a fist full of dollars.
Read next: MacBook Pro 2023 with M2 Pro could launch tomorrow — here's what we know.
