On several points for many years, Apple managers have put a lot of effort into pointing out that they think that touchscreen Macs are a stupid idea. But it remains one of those ongoing Mac rumors that pops up every few years, from sources that are reliable enough that they should not be rejected.
Today's contribution comes from Supply Chain analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, who usually has some insight into what Apple Test and Production is. Kuo says that touchscreen MacBook Pros “are expected to go into mass production by the end of 2026”, and that the devices will also move to the use of OLED display panels instead of the mini LED panels on MacBook Pros for the current generation.
Kuo says that Apple's interest in touchscreen Macs comes from “long -term observation of the behavior of the iPad.” Apple's tablet hardware launches in recent years have also included keyboard and touchpad accessories, and in particular the iPados 26 update of this year has contributed to the fading of the line between the Touch-First iPad and the keyboard-and-Pointer-First Mac. In other words, Apple has already acknowledged that both types of input can be useful when combined in the same device; Taking the same jump on the Mac feels like a natural continuation of the work that Apple is already doing.
Touchscreens were much more often for Windows PCs from 2012 when Windows 8 was released, a response to Apple's introduction of the iPad a few years earlier. Microsoft supported almost all design decisions of Windows 8 in the following years after the dramatic UI shift proved unpopular with traditional users of mouse and keyboard, but touchscreen-PCs such as Microsoft even held, even because the software has changed.
