Apple Macbook laptops could be getting a touchscreen

In another leak out of California, Apple is apparently going to be adding touch screens to their Macbook line in a huge u-turn.

Apple has for years determined that they won’t be adding touch screens to Macs. From Steve Jobs saying it was “ergonomically terrible”, to not wanting to cause too much crossover between the iPad and Mac lines, it was just never meant to be.

However, in a massive 180 turn, the company is allegedly hands-on with the development of the first major MacBook roster to feature touch screens. In addition, the screens will move to OLED, much like the iPhone and Apple Watch.

The new report comes from analyst and known Apple reporter Mark Gurman from Bloomberg.

While adding touch screens to a laptop doesn’t seem like a huge move in 2023, Apple takes its gospel very seriously. The company appears to be having a change of heart regarding this in recent years.

iPads moved to USB-C, MacBook Pros finally got ports like an SD card back after years of feature removal and there’s a good potential for the iPhone to begin opening to third-party app stores.

When will Macbooks get touchscreens?

The move wouldn’t happen until 2025, as we’re expecting M2 refreshes of the Pro lineup this year. This would put the OLED, touchscreen variations on sale with the expected M3 refresh in 2025 (M1 Pro and Max launched in 2021).

For some, the writing has been on the wall for some time. Not only does the competition on PC appear to be adding in touchscreens at an alarming rate, but Apple itself has already started work.

A recent update to macOS, Ventura, has altered the user interface to adopt the chunkier, and more touch-friendly ethos of iOS and iPadOS.

While clearly done to better support new features like Universal Control, where an iPad can control your laptop, it does seem that the seeds for touch interfaces have been sown already.

The iPad now also runs an M-series chip, alongside the Mac lineup. This could be the true converging point laid out when Apple introduced iOS/iPadOS support on macOS a few years ago.