Apple Executives Address Lack of Face ID and Touchscreens on Macs

[StuBeck]

They're holding back on FaceID to offer it as a feature later on. Thats the only reason as to why they would hold off on it. If they truly felt it wasn't necessary, then we wouldn't have it on the iPhone either. Their excuses are the same as when they didn't have iPhones with 3G or multitasking, they simply don't hold up to any part of logic.

No touchscreen on Macs is because they know they can sell iPads that have a touch screen in addition to a laptop that doesn't. Having a touch screen wouldn't hurt the laptops at all, and can be disabled if someone truly hates it as well.

 

[RocketHopper]

Face ID makes no sense on a laptop when the said laptop is on your lap who needs to bring their face to the display when your hands are already on the keyboard. It would be completely awkward

You don't look at your laptop while using it?

 

[Pankeborg]

They were not "wrong". TouchBar was a very cool idea, it just didn't work out in practice. If 100% of your bets are paying off, your bets are not daring enough.

 

[Pilot Jones]

Tom Boger, Apple's vice president of iPad and Mac product marketing, told Stern that Touch ID is more convenient on the Mac since users' hands are already on the keyboard.

Yeah? And what about my stupid freaking face that is already in front of the screen the moment I open the lid, even before my hands are on the keyboard?

Honestly, it's kind of insulting how stupid Apple execs think their consumers are. This is unacceptable drivel disguised as a condescending explanation.

 

[PassiveSmoking]

I don't want a touch screen on a laptop! I'm not doing my work peering through a layer of fingerprints.

 

[jz0309]

at least the summary of that article/interview is very superficial, but that is product marketing at its best /s

and no, touch screen is not for 95% of users, even corporate Windows users who have it, most don't use it

 

[RocketHopper]

They were not "wrong". TouchBar was a very cool idea, it just didn't work out in practice. If 100% of your bets are paying off, your bets are not daring enough.

So... you're saying they were wrong?

 

[triton100]

But the Touch ID is not near where your hands are you always have to move it up right to use it, faceid would be better and give us touch screen we want it

Who wants a dirty laptop screen with smudged finger prints all over it? Not a single creative who these MacBook target want that.

 

[Emanuel Rodriguez]

I find it likely that the notch is there for a FaceID camera array, which they may very likely introduce in the next upgrade. They rarely change the overall design of their Macs, but adding tons of new features to a major redesign is also something they rarely do. Often the new features come in version 2.0 of the redesign. We've seen that time and time again. So, the notch is there for when they need the extra space that FaceID will require. That's my bet.

The touchscreen though is and has always been a sort of "nice to have" thing, that really doesn't make much of a difference on a device that isn't designed for it. It's somewhat usable on Windows laptops because Windows has been designed in recent years to sort of walk the line between laptop and tablet, but Apple has not taken that approach with macOS, since they use a completely different interface on their tablets. Adding a touchscreen to Macs would add little to no value.

 

[Saint_Blaise]

Face ID makes no sense on a laptop when the said laptop is on your lap who needs to bring their face to the display when your hands are already on the keyboard. It would be completely awkward

I use Windows Hello face ID on my laptop and it is perfectly useful in all circumstances and not a bit awkward.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

The notch is just a status symbol

Or it is a way to have a better camera without having a bigger top bezel. But I don't really feel like going down the rabbit hole with this debate again, since neither side will listen to the other one. I already regret posting this and haven't posted it yet.

 

[redheeler]

Why not have both Face ID and Touch ID? What's stopping them from having both on such a large and expensive device? Theoretically if you were really concerned about security you could even require both to unlock.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I don’t think touch screen is a good idea on a Mac!

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

We all know Face ID will be introduce in the year of 2022.

 

[tygurr]

Highly intellectual people have 0 common sense, that sums up their reasoning.

 

[ian87w]

Apple's vice president of iPad and Mac product marketing, told Stern that Touch ID is more convenient on the Mac since users' hands are already on the keyboard.

Yeah, sure. TouchID is “more convenient” until Apple put FaceID in the next revision. I mean it’s so obvious. Such weak marketing excuse.

 

[Rychiar]

I've always wanted Face ID on my iMac. it jus seems it would be natural. Apple is just cheap with their components when it comes to macs. look how long they kept garbage cameras in them. its shameful. Why does a $600 iPad have better components than a $3000 computer?

 

[Kylo83]

It’s a dumb excuse when I need to use Touch ID my hand is on the trackpad so I have to move it up to use Touch ID, Face ID is always looking at you, they always use these silly excuses

 

[jz0309]

I don’t think touch screen is a good idea on a Mac!

it's not really a good idea on Windows either ... just sayin

 

[SR 7]

They aren’t adding touch screen because they don’t want iPad sales to drop. They want you to buy both products, not one. The touch screen is an amazing feature. I mean everything is touch screen now.

 

[BootsWalking]

tl;dr: We don't have Face ID or touchscreens on the Mac yet so here are some lame, business-speak misdirections to explain why you don't need them.

 

[jz0309]

We all know Face ID will be introduce in the year of 2022.

I'm going to follow up with you on that in 2022

 

[arvinsim]

This is why I am wary of "future-proofing" these Macbooks now.

It's 100% guaranteed that we will have FaceID in future models to drive sales.

 

[anson42]

The notch isn't a faceid placeholder. It's simply the required space for the array of sensors and such packaged with the camera.

It certainly could be a FaceID placeholder. Of course Apple isn't going to admit that the feature might be coming until it appears.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I hear Thing from the Addams family gives this spin his entire 1 thumb up...