Skip to main content

Apple says it is still not considering adding touchscreen capabilities to Macs

apple touchcscreen mac imac27
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Although Apple’s iPhone helped popularize the idea of a touchscreen smartphone, it still doesn’t want to bring the technology to its Mac desktop systems. It has also made it clear to questioning journalists, it has no plans to swap out Intel hardware for ARM processors.

These questions came to light during a recent roundtable discussion Apple had with a number of journalists it invited out to its Cupertino, California, headquarters. During the chat, several reporters asked whether Apple had any plans to add touchscreen functionality to its Macs, in a similar manner to Microsoft’s all-in-one Surface Studio products.It was also asked whether there was any possibility of dropping Intel CPUs from its Macs. On both accounts, the answer was a resounding no. However, Apple did purportedly say that there was a chance it would make more use of ARM chips in future as a secondary processor, much in the way it did in the MacBook Pros to run the Touch Bar, according to Axios.

Apple marketing head Phil Schiller apologized for the time it was taking in upgrading the Mac Pro and claimed there was something new in the works.

“We’re going to come up with something great to replace it,” he said. It also plans a small performance update for existing Mac Pros soon, to help tide users over in the mean time.

Schiller also reiterated Apple’s commitment to professional users of its Mac hardware and said it was continuing to develop software like Final Cut and Logic and will introduce new versions of iMac hardware later in 2017.

One move we do know Apple is making with its hardware, though, is ditching Imagination Technologies graphics chips from its mobile hardware. There is even the suggestion that those processors will be switched out for Apple’s own design in the coming years.

Editors' Recommendations

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Here’s more confirmation that 2024 will be a slow year for Macs
3nm iphone ipad processors apple silicon imgae

There's some extra reason to believe that Apple could already be working on the M4 chip, but it may not be coming for a while. New research from Canalys, a market analytics firm, shows that the next entry in the Apple Silicon family could come in the first part of 2025 to target offerings from Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD.

Lining up with previous reporting from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Canalys is estimating that Apple could launch the M4 chip in the first quarter of 2025. It's a vague time frame, but it makes a lot of sense. Gurman previously said that Apple already has the M4 MacBook Pro in "formal development." Although this timing lines up with previous Apple Silicon chip refresh cycles, it would leave 2024 looking fairly light in terms of new Mac releases. Apple usually has some kind of October or November release focused on new Macs, but without new chips to launch, that might not happen this year.

Read more
Which color MacBook should you buy? Here’s how to pick
The MacBook Air on a table in front of a window.

Apple’s MacBook laptops come in a range of colors, and selecting which is right for you can be a tricky business. Sure, it’s perhaps not as important as deciding which chip to pick or how much memory you should buy, but it’s still a vital part of the equation. After all, you’re going to see that color every time you reach for your MacBook. You don’t want it to be something that fills you with regret.

But how should you pick a MacBook color? And what do the colors even look like in the first place? We’ve got the answers to those questions in this guide. We’d also advise you to go to an Apple Store to take a look at the MacBook colors in person, as some can be hard to appreciate just by browsing Apple’s website.

Read more
Why you should buy a MacBook Air instead of a MacBook Pro
The MacBook Air on a table in front of a window.

The MacBook Air has officially caught up. Now with the M3 on board, the MacBook Air has gained the benefits of the new chip, which was previously available just on the MacBook Pro and iMac.

Choosing between the M3 15-inch MacBook Air and the 14-inch MacBook Pro is tough, and requires an in-depth look at differences in ports, displays, speakers, and more. It's a legitimately hard decision to make.

Read more