Apple MacBook Pro Gets a Touchscreen, Reversing Steve Jobs' Stance

Apple has introduced new MacBook Pro models with OLED touchscreens in 14- and 16-inch sizes, ending years of resistance to touch input on laptops. Preorders start on 30 October, and the first units are due to reach customers on 6 November.

The move reverses a position that Steve Jobs stated plainly in 2010. At a Mac presentation, he called touch on a vertical laptop display "fatalny pod względem ergonomii" in the original Polish rendering of his remarks, meaning terrible ergonomics: reaching up to an upright screen for long periods is tiring. In his view, touch belonged on devices like the iPad, while laptops were best driven by keyboard and trackpad. Apple kept to that line for years, and as recently as 2021 it argued that the iPad was its best touchscreen computer.

Touch as an addition, not a replacement

Apple is not turning the MacBook Pro into a tablet. Touch is meant as an extra way to interact, useful for scrolling pages, zooming in and dragging items on screen, while the keyboard and trackpad remain the primary tools. The company has also reinforced the hinge to reduce display wobble when users tap the screen.

Apple says advances in displays, chips and software finally made it possible to add touch without compromises. Users' habits have changed too, since many have spent years working on smartphones and tablets, so what seemed impractical in 2010 may now feel like a natural extension of a laptop.

What remains to be seen

Competitors have offered touchscreen laptops for years, so the feature itself is not new to the market. The open question is whether Mac owners will use touch in daily work or whether it will mostly be an eye-catching extra on an expensive machine. A real verdict will need longer hands-on testing once the laptops ship in early November.