After thirteen years, refusing flatly, Apple has begun to prepare its first MacBook with a touch screen, according to the leaks that arrive from two fronts:
- Ming-Chi Kuo He has announced now That the MacBook Pro with OLED screen will arrive at the end of 2026, and will do so with tactile capabilities.
- Mark Gurman had already anticipated this possibility in Bloomberg Two years ago, although lacking the level of detail that Kuo has given.
Why is it important. This change involves the admission that users’ expectations have changed and that Apple is willing to abandon one of its most entrenched dogmas to stay competitive.
And above all: for the generational advance.
The figures. Kuo has spoken: the MacBook Pro with OLED screen will begin its mass production at the end of 2026, incorporating a tactile screen with technology ON-CELL. This technology integrates tactile sensors directly into the upper panel layer, without the need for a separate touch layer.
Gurman had initially speculated with a launch in 2025, but everything indicates that this schedule has moved to 2026, coinciding with the arrival of the OLED screens. It is not clear if the commercialization will also be at the end of 2026, or if the production will begin on that date, so the commercial arrival would be in 2027.
The context. The decision does not arise in a vacuum. Apple is at a particular moment in its history:
- The MAC now generates more income than the iPad, becoming a more profitable business than expected.
- Meanwhile, the competition has integrated touch screens for years, setting a market expectation that Apple has ignored again and again.
Apple has also been preparing the technological land:
- Since 2018 it began to unify applications between iPad and Mac.
- In 2020 it allowed iPhone applications to work in their MAC.
- Also in 2020 it premiered a more appropriate interface for tactile panels with macOS Big Sur.
- And in 2025, Macos 26 even more uniform interfaces of operating systems.
All this has highlighted how strange it is to use an application designed for touch screen on a device that does not admit it.
The turn. Steve Jobs was categorical about touch screens on computers: “Tactile surfaces do not want to be vertical,” He said in 2010. “After a prolonged period, your arm wants to fall.” Tim Cook maintained this position for years, comparing in 2012 the combination of tablets and portables with “combine a toaster with a fridge“
Now Apple is about to do exactly that.
Between the lines. Jobs’s ergonomic argument was foundation, but the solution is in the complementary use, not on the total prohibition. Tactile tactile screens are not designed to be the primary interaction method, but an occasional complement to trackpad and keyboard to make Scrollpinch or interact with specific elements.
On the other hand, at this point there is an entire generation that has grown with touch screens everywhere. For them it is unnatural to meet a screen without that capacity.
Yes, but. Apple will gain competitiveness by eliminating frequent criticism and improve coherence between its devices. But it will also lose that clear distinction between products that defended so much. The MAC will be less unique and more complex conceptually.
Deepen. If the 2026 Macbook Pro includes touch screen, it is reasonable to expect Apple to update macos to optimize the experience. This could translate into larger interface elements, specific gestures and an even greater convergence with ipados. The question about compatibility with Apple Pencilwhich would be important for creative professionals.
The MacBook with a 2026 touch screen will mark the end of an era of conceptual purity in Apple, but also the beginning of an era of greater flexibility. It is not necessarily better or worse, it is different. And after thirteen years of refusing, Apple finally admits that the user sometimes knows what he wants.
In Xataka |
Outstanding image | Joshua ng
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