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Touchscreen MacBook '100% Confirmed,' Says Reputable Leaker
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jakey rolling
macrumors 65816
Unlikely. The Touch Bar failed because it tried to be a replacement for real keys on the keyboard. If it were an augmenting feature that otherwise stayed out of people's way (which is exactly what laptop touch screens have been for the past 15+ years), it may very well have stuck around. The butterfly keyboard was just bad design from an era of particularly bad Apple design.
At least when it comes to touch screen computers, there is over a decade-and-a-half of real-world examples that Apple can copy from. As long as they don't fall back into their NIH tendencies and try to spin their own touchscreen yarn, it'll probably work well.
WHY? Dumb. So, so DUMB...
Apple's first touchscreen MacBook is now "100% confirmed," according to the prolific Chinese leaker known as Instant Digital, who appears to have insider information from sources in the supply chain. The leaker made their definitive statement this morning in a Weibo post.
Instant Digital has a good track record for Apple rumors and has provided some strikingly accurate information in the past, so it's always worth noting what they have to say about Apple's plans. The claim is also backed by several recent reports.
Recurring rumors about Apple's touchscreen MacBook development actually go back a few years. In January 2023, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that a MacBook Pro with an OLED display would be the first touchscreen Mac. The machine was initially slated for 2025, but that timeline never played out.
Since then, reports have become more frequent and assertive. In September 2025, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the first touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro would enter mass production in 2026. Gurman has also repeatedly stated that the next 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will have touchscreen and are slated to launch in late 2026 to early 2027 – with the global memory chip shortage potentially making 2027 more likely.
Touchscreen support is expected to be one of several major upgrades coming to Apple's next-generation high-end MacBook Pro models. Other rumored features include M6 Pro and M6 Max chips, an OLED display, a Dynamic Island (i.e., no notch), and a thinner design. The new laptops could also adopt MacBook Ultra branding.
Notably, macOS 27 Golden Gate also introduces a more touch-friendly interface, since Apple's Sidecar feature now allows users to tap and interact with macOS interface elements using a finger on their iPad.
Apple apparently is not going to advertise the new MacBook Pro/Ultra as a touch-first device like the iPad – it will be "touch-friendly, not touch-first," according to Gurman. In that sense, Apple will let customers use touch and mouse gestures interchangeably for all functions.
Apple has long rejected the idea of a touchscreen Mac, so moving ahead with one would be a major shift in the company's thinking. In 2010, Steve Jobs argued that "touch surfaces don't want to be vertical," citing the arm fatigue that comes from repeatedly reaching up to a screen.
More than a decade later, in 2021, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus – soon to be Apple CEO – said the Mac was "totally optimized for indirect input" and that Apple saw no compelling reason to change that approach.
Are you looking forward to touching a future MacBook's screen? Let us know in the comments.
Article Link: Touchscreen MacBook '100% Confirmed,' Says Reputable Leaker
Yoda Mann
macrumors member
I'm so looking forward to fingerprinting up my new $5K MacBook Pro, especially as I'm such a fan of PB&Js.
Yoms
macrumors 6502
Unless the screen can be flipped to create a flat/horizontal device like an iPad, I won't be interested.
Steve was, and still is, right when he "argued that "touch surfaces don't want to be vertical," citing the arm fatigue that comes from repeatedly reaching up to a screen."
Steve was, and still is, right when he "argued that "touch surfaces don't want to be vertical," citing the arm fatigue that comes from repeatedly reaching up to a screen."
Contact_Feanor
macrumors 6502a
And even then... AirPower anyone? the Open Source cross-platform Facetime? Complete 64 bit Carbon, or if we go way back to the nineties, Taligent, Copland, the Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone, etc.
Contact_Feanor
macrumors 6502a
None of the things you mentioned are different than a MacBook Air though? they use NAND Flash storage (for over a decade), have 16GB of RAM (and even 8GB in the Neo) and have no active cooling. thickness is is different, but that's mainly because there's no need for keyboards and hinge mechanisms etc.
Contact_Feanor
macrumors 6502a
Gurman also said the article that cook would announce in the first half of 2026 that he'd step down as CEO was not true. Gurman knows some stuff, but is very, very often wrong.
pier
macrumors 6502a
After like 5 mins of holding your arm up in the air you would definitely not like it.
hovscorpion12
macrumors 68040
What if it's actually not touch, but geared towards the Apple Pencil. Using the Apple Pencil to scrub on the iPad is actually better [especially the latest model] then mouse, trackpad and finger. [Plus some of us [me] have fat fingers]]
jakey rolling
macrumors 65816
With how prevalent comments like this are in this thread, it is pretty clear that so many Mac users never venture away from Apple's little marketing bubble to see what exists in the world.
I would say not to worry - Dell, HP, Lenovo, and many others have had laptops that do this for years. There is no shortage of tech that Apple can copy. So you should be able to see something like this in a Macbook in.. (checks watch).. probably sometime in the 2030's.
Luftkopf
macrumors 65816
Either that, or we’ve used those machines, and hated the entire experience…
Really the only question that matters much for touch is how much it adds to the total cost. If small then why care even if you don't like it since you just won't use it. I don't generally use the HDMI port but I don't mind it being there.
johnsawyercjs
macrumors 68000
Current rumors claim that Apple has redesigned the housing for the Ultra to be significantly thinner and lighter, while retaining all the same ports. OLED also allows the display lid to be thinner, but it's pretty thin right now in the Macbook Pros. Cooling will be enhanced with one or more vapor chambers. The notch will be replaced with a Dynamic Island. The Ultra will be available with the option to choose between an M6 Pro and an M6 Max CPU.
I doublechecked the current rumors, and now I see that some are claiming that the only Macbook Pro that will remain in the lineup, without an OLED touchscreen, will be the 14 inch model, which will retain its mini-LED backlit LCD display and its existing chunky housing design. There will also be a 14 inch version of the slimmed-down OLED touchscreen Ultra, and the 16 inch will be available only as a touchscreen Ultra. So if this is what happens, we might see a fair number of people asking, as you say, why Apple isn't going to continue making the 16 inch non-touchscreen LCD Macbook Pro available as an option.
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I mean, I'm 53. My first experience with a computer was my middle school's Apple II lab. The Chromebooks in my classroom have touchscreens, and I have found it much easier to use that when I help my students with something. That's translated to how I use my machine at home... and I find myself occasionally reaching out to scroll or zoom or click an element.
I don't need it, no, but would I use it as a secondary input (especially when the MacBook is on my lap, as it is now)? Yeah, I probably would.
Yoms
macrumors 6502
A cool thing (so not gonna happen) would be that the screen of this MacBook Ultra can be detached and snapped back easily using a magnet-based system and the Smart Connector to ensure data transfer.
The screen would have a light battery. Computation would be done on the MacBook Ultra's "body" and the detached screen would rely on BT/Wifi for data transfer.
Basically, like Sidecar. But instead of having 1 Mac and 1 iPad, it's all in 1 device.
That being said, such a device would probably be more expensive than a MacBook Pro + base iPad.
The screen would have a light battery. Computation would be done on the MacBook Ultra's "body" and the detached screen would rely on BT/Wifi for data transfer.
Basically, like Sidecar. But instead of having 1 Mac and 1 iPad, it's all in 1 device.
That being said, such a device would probably be more expensive than a MacBook Pro + base iPad.
dannys1
macrumors 601
In three years time we'll see
"New MacBook Ultra launches without touch support - Apple cited very low user figures"
"New MacBook Ultra launches without touch support - Apple cited very low user figures"
If they add pen and touch support and release a convertable device then the iPad Pro will no longer be needed. Given the base iPad model and iPad air are already the most popular models if the convertable is thin enough this would probably be better for enterprise customers and business users. If the convertable had a removable tablet screen people would pay more for the mac/iPad combination.
capamac
macrumors 6502a
Jobs was against it. "It doesn't work. It's ergonomically terrible," he said.
My guess is that since Apple lacks a principled visionary now (Jobs) it's since shifted toward a "corporate profit-driven mindset."
Profit first, profit second, and profit always. That's the corporate mentality. It's the same mindset that nearly led to Apple's bankruptcy in the 1990s. Very short-sighted, no vision.
My guess is that since Apple lacks a principled visionary now (Jobs) it's since shifted toward a "corporate profit-driven mindset."
Profit first, profit second, and profit always. That's the corporate mentality. It's the same mindset that nearly led to Apple's bankruptcy in the 1990s. Very short-sighted, no vision.
How big was the sample in the survey you conducted that found foldable smartphones and/or touchscreen laptops solve zero problems?
Many, many moons ago, when I was a IBM mainframe systems programmer with a large organisation, the IT department used to subscribe, at great cost, to IBM watching reports, the Yankee Group and the Gartner Group come to mind. IBM was notoriously secretive about product roadmaps and large users wanted some clarity to base their medium to long range plans on.
Apple's first touchscreen MacBook is now "100% confirmed," according to the prolific Chinese leaker known as Instant Digital, who appears to have insider information from sources in the supply chain. The leaker made their definitive statement this morning in a Weibo post.
Instant Digital has a good track record for Apple rumors and has provided some strikingly accurate information in the past, so it's always worth noting what they have to say about Apple's plans. The claim is also backed by several recent reports.
Recurring rumors about Apple's touchscreen MacBook development actually go back a few years. In January 2023, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that a MacBook Pro with an OLED display would be the first touchscreen Mac. The machine was initially slated for 2025, but that timeline never played out.
Since then, reports have become more frequent and assertive. In September 2025, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the first touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro would enter mass production in 2026. Gurman has also repeatedly stated that the next 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will have touchscreen and are slated to launch in late 2026 to early 2027 – with the global memory chip shortage potentially making 2027 more likely.
Touchscreen support is expected to be one of several major upgrades coming to Apple's next-generation high-end MacBook Pro models. Other rumored features include M6 Pro and M6 Max chips, an OLED display, a Dynamic Island (i.e., no notch), and a thinner design. The new laptops could also adopt MacBook Ultra branding.
Notably, macOS 27 Golden Gate also introduces a more touch-friendly interface, since Apple's Sidecar feature now allows users to tap and interact with macOS interface elements using a finger on their iPad.
Apple apparently is not going to advertise the new MacBook Pro/Ultra as a touch-first device like the iPad – it will be "touch-friendly, not touch-first," according to Gurman. In that sense, Apple will let customers use touch and mouse gestures interchangeably for all functions.
Apple has long rejected the idea of a touchscreen Mac, so moving ahead with one would be a major shift in the company's thinking. In 2010, Steve Jobs argued that "touch surfaces don't want to be vertical," citing the arm fatigue that comes from repeatedly reaching up to a screen.
More than a decade later, in 2021, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus – soon to be Apple CEO – said the Mac was "totally optimized for indirect input" and that Apple saw no compelling reason to change that approach.
Are you looking forward to touching a future MacBook's screen? Let us know in the comments.
Article Link: Touchscreen MacBook '100% Confirmed,' Says Reputable Leaker
Then I actually joined IBM (and spent the rest of my career there as an Exec) and discovered that Gartner and the Yankee Group hadn't a clue what they were talking about 😂 Nothing was actually tied down in IBM's strategy, it was fluid and reacted to market conditions. The cast in stone roadmaps the "watchers" claimed to have inside info to just didn't exist.
Forty years on, I really enjoy this forum and wouldn't dream of making an Apple purchase (which I do quite often) without consulting it. However, I'm sure the individual views of the Apple watchers which this forum aggregates are as unreliable as the old IBM watchers' were 😂 Sometimes they guess right, sometimes they don't. But its all just speculation because it's hard for them to predict what senior Apple execs still haven't made up their minds on, yet.
As IBM execs, and thus insiders, we used to have a good laugh at some of the external consultants predictions that user organisations paid good money for 🤭
The value of this forum is the aggregation of multiple sources, rather than the reliability of any one source.