Apple's new CEO breaks a taboo

John Ternus, nearly two months into his tenure as Apple CEO, has overseen launches of a foldable iPhone, new Mac Minis, and AirPods.

“Who knew?”

The new MacBook Pro has a touch display

Apple is releasing a new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display today at an event in Los Angeles.It features an M five Pro or M five Max chip and a tandem OLED screen.

Ternus explains the shift

Ternus says the Mac is first and foremost an indirect input device built around the trackpad and keyboard. But there are times when touch is comfortable and handy to have on a display.

“The Mac is first and foremost an indirect input device, built around the trackpad and keyboard. But I think there's times when it's comfortable and handy to have touch.”

Apple needed the right conditions

Ternus says Apple needed to reach a point where adding touch did not make the product heavier or thicker.

“We needed to get to a point where adding touch didn't make the product lesser in any way. It didn't make it heavier. It didn't make it thicker.”

Apple's history of reversals

Steve Jobs once said iPods would never do video, then they did.He said no one would buy a jumbo-size phone, then Apple released the iPhone six.

Everyone else had touch already

Just about every PC maker not headquartered in Cupertino has implemented touch on their laptops. Customers of Microsoft, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, and HP have snapped them up. People wanted touch on their laptop displays.

Schiller's Grand Unified Theory

In two thousand fifteen, Phil Schiller, then senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, explained that every Apple hardware product is a computer and a piece of glass with an interface appropriate to its function.

Schiller's ergonomic argument

Schiller said Apple had studied this extensively and believed that on a desktop scenario with a fixed keyboard, having to reach up to do touch interfaces is uncomfortable.Multitouch is fine for iPhones but not Macintosh.

“From the ergonomic standpoint, we have studied this pretty extensively, and we believe that on a desktop scenario, where you have a fixed keyboard, having to reach up to do touch interfaces is uncomfortable.”

Schiller's interface argument

Schiller argued that iOS was multitouch from the start and did not use macOS conventions requiring precision like cursors and tiny boxes to close windows.

“These two worlds are different on purpose, and that's a good thing, we can optimize around the best experience for each of those and not try to mesh them together into a least-common-denominator experience.”

Schiller doubled down in two thousand sixteen

When Apple introduced the MacBook Pro with a touch bar in two thousand sixteen, Schiller said touch should never find its way into a Mac display.

“You can't optimize for both.”

Apple tested and confirmed its stance

Apple conducted user tests with touchscreens on Mac.Schiller told me, "What the heck, we could be wrong."But Apple came away with the belief that it was not the right thing to do.

“What the heck, we could be wrong. We've absolutely come away with the belief that it isn't the right thing to do. Our instincts were correct.”

Ternus held the line in two thousand twenty-one

In two thousand twenty-one, Ternus told journalist Joanna Stern, "The Mac is totally optimized for indirect input.We haven't really felt a reason to change that."

“The Mac is totally optimized for indirect input. We haven't really felt a reason to change that.”

Ten years changed everything

Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer, says ten years is a very long time.Many things have changed, whether it's display technology, custom silicon, or other factors.

“Ten years is a very, very long time. Many things have changed, whether it's the display technology, the custom silicon, et cetera.”

Pro users were impatient

Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, concedes that touch was overdue for users with sophisticated needs.

Young creators expect touch

Joswiak notes that most pros own an iPad and almost every pro owns an iPhone. A generation of young creators and young people using MacBook Pros expect to touch their screens, he says.

“Most pros own an iPad, and almost every pro owns an iPhone. So this is something that they're natural with. There's a generation of young creators and young people using our MacBook Pros that expect to touch.”

Apple solved the hard problems

Srouji says Apple's ethos is an expectation of quality that is sky-high.The custom silicon is hard, the touch is hard, the display is hard.Everything Apple builds is hard.

“If you're working on something easy, you're wasting your time. The easy things, I want to outsource. So the custom silicon is hard. The touch is hard. The display is hard. Everything we build is hard.”

Apple addressed Schiller's concerns

The menu bar looks the same but expands when you move a finger over a menu item.Traffic-light buttons that close or hide windows get bigger when you touch them.

The price is astronomical

The new MacBook Pro starts at two thousand eight hundred ninety-nine dollars for the fourteen-inch version and three thousand three hundred ninety-nine dollars for the sixteen-inch model.

Ternus won't say what comes next

When asked about the timeline or possibility of touch displays on less expensive MacBook Airs and iMacs, Ternus shakes his head and says he will never tell anything about Apple's future.

“You've been doing this a long time. You know I will never tell you anything about our future.”