Apple brings touchscreen to MacBook Pro after years of resistance: What's changed, and why Steve Jobs opposed it

"Touch surfaces don't want to be vertical. It gives great demo but after a short period of time, you start to fatigue and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off," Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said on 20 October 2010, explaining why the company did not believe touchscreens belonged on laptops.

Sixteen years later, Apple has taken a different approach. The company has unveiled its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, marking a major shift in how users can interact with its flagship laptop.

The new MacBook Pro, equipped with Apple's M5 Pro or M5 Max chip and a tandem OLED display, brings touch functionality to a product line that has traditionally relied on a keyboard and trackpad. In an interview with WIRED, Apple executives explained that advances in display technology, custom silicon and software had finally enabled the company to introduce the feature without compromising its design standards.

Quick answers to key questions

•5 QUESTIONS

1

Why did Apple resist putting a touchscreen on MacBooks for so long?⌵

Apple argued that reaching up to a laptop screen could cause arm fatigue and that Macs were designed for precise pointer input. It also worried that combining touch with mouse and trackpad controls could compromise the experience of both.

2

Why did Apple add a touchscreen to the MacBook Pro now?⌵

Apple says advances in display technology, custom silicon and other components made it possible to add touch without making the laptop thicker or heavier. The company also cited users’ growing familiarity with touchscreens on phones and tablets.

3

How has Apple made the touchscreen MacBook Pro more comfortable to use?⌵

Apple redesigned the hinge to reduce screen movement when touched and reworked the thermal system to prevent the display from becoming uncomfortably warm. It also made some on-screen controls larger and easier to select by touch.

4

What can you do with the MacBook Pro touchscreen?⌵

You can tap, scroll, pinch, pan and drag. Touch can be useful for visual tasks such as navigating maps, moving a video timeline or interacting with 3-D objects.

5

Does the touchscreen MacBook Pro replace the keyboard and trackpad?⌵

No. Apple has retained both, and says the MacBook Pro remains primarily designed around keyboard and trackpad input. Users can switch between touch and traditional controls depending on the task.

Apple's reluctance to introduce touchscreen laptops was rooted in its belief that different devices required different ways of interacting with them.

In 2015, Phil Schiller, then Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing, told WIRED that reaching up to touch a desktop screen was uncomfortable from an ergonomic standpoint. He also argued that macOS and the iPhone and iPad operating systems were designed around different interfaces.

While iPhones and iPads were built for multitouch interactions, the Mac was designed around precise pointer-based controls, including cursors and small on-screen buttons. Combining the two approaches, Schiller argued, could compromise the experience of both.

Apple revisited the idea through user testing but maintained its position. In 2016, Schiller reiterated that touchscreen functionality would require a redesign of the Mac's interface, which he believed would conflict with the use of a mouse or trackpad.

John Ternus, now Apple's chief executive, expressed a similar view in 2021, saying the Mac was optimised for indirect input and that the company had not seen a reason to change that approach.

According to Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer, developments in display technology, custom silicon and other components have helped the company overcome its earlier concerns.

Speaking to WIRED, Srouji said these technologies had eventually reached the standard Apple required. The company wanted to ensure that adding touch would not make the MacBook Pro thicker or heavier.

Ternus told WIRED that the Mac would remain primarily a device designed around a keyboard and trackpad, but touchscreen input could be useful in certain situations. He said the technology had reached a point where Apple could add the feature without making the product inferior in other respects.

Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, also pointed to changing user expectations. He mentioned that many professional users already owned iPhones and iPads and were accustomed to interacting directly with screens. Younger creators, in particular, expected touch functionality from their devices.

The company has made changes to both the display hardware and the software interface to make touchscreen interaction more practical.

According to WIRED's report, Apple has redesigned the MacBook Pro's hinge to reduce screen movement when users touch the display. The company has also reworked its thermal system to prevent the screen from becoming uncomfortably warm during touch interactions.

The interface has been adapted to make touch-based selection easier without abandoning the existing macOS design. The menu items also expand when users move their fingers over them, while certain controls, including the buttons used to close or hide windows, become larger when touched.

The new MacBook Pro also introduces Apple's tandem OLED display, which uses multiple light-emitting layers to improve contrast.

Apple has retained the keyboard and trackpad, allowing users to switch between touch and traditional controls depending on the task.

The company has also applied an anti-reflective coating to the display.

For Jobs, the question was whether touchscreen laptops offered a comfortable and intuitive user experience. Sixteen years later, Apple appears to have found a way to address those concerns without abandoning the keyboard and trackpad.

Prabhakar Jha is a journalist and digital news editor with nearly a decade of experience in online media, specialising in breaking news, politics, national affairs. Having built his career across fast-paced digital newsrooms, he has developed a reputation for delivering accurate, timely, and reader-friendly stories while leading editorial teams during high-pressure news cycles. In 2026, he joined LiveMint as a Digital Content Producer. <br><br> A postgraduate in History from the University of Delhi, Prabhakar combines strong editorial judgment with a keen interest in public policy, governance, economics, and global affairs. Before joining LiveMint, he worked with leading digital publications, including News9Live and The Times of India, where he handled breaking news, copy editing, headline writing, live coverage, and newsroom coordination. <br><br> Beyond the newsroom, Prabhakar is passionate about long-form writing and storytelling. He has a particular interest in global affairs. An avid reader with a love for literary fiction, he also enjoys blogging, poetry, and working on creative writing projects.

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