Apple first introduced the Touch Bar on the redesigned MacBook Pro in 2016. It was termed as a revolutionary solution to not putting touchscreen on laptops, something which Windows laptops manufacturers were doing and continue to do so. However, over the years, most users have come to acknowledge that the Touch Bar is a barely usable, expensive addition.
In November 2019, Apple released the 16” MacBook Pro which solved major problems of the 15” MacBook Pro. The company brought back the “esc” key, returned to a reliable scissor switch keyboard mechanism, and other nifty changes. To discuss the 16” MacBook Pro, Apple’s then SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller sat down with the popular tech YouTuber Jonathan Morrison. During the discussion, Morrison asked if the Touch Bar was going away; such was/is people’s frustration with the Touch Bar.
No Touch Bar, Apple Silicon inside
Bloomberg’s noted Apple reporter Mark Gurman has revealed that the next MacBook Pro laptops will not have the Touch Bar. The upcoming MacBook Pros will instead have the traditional function row keys, as similar to the ones found on the MacBook Air. People that would have bought the MacBook Pro, instead bought the MacBook Air because it did not have the Touch Bar. It looks like the future of the MacBook Pro is going to be bright once again. It’s unclear whether Apple will reduce the price of the future MacBook Pros or not as the removal of the Touch Bar will reduce costs by around $200-$300 (USD).
The next slew of MacBook Pro laptops will be powered by Apple’s ARM based chips. Last year, Apple announced that the Mac will be transitioning from Intel to homegrown Apple Silicon. The company is also rumoured to be working on a new 14” MacBook Pro which will reportedly replace the current generation 13” MacBook Pro.