For more than a decade, Apple insisted a touchscreen Mac would never happen—citing ergonomic issues, software mismatches, and a desire to keep the Mac distinct from the iPad.
Apple’s groundbreaking MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display
For more than a decade, Apple insisted a touchscreen Mac would never happen—citing ergonomic issues, software mismatches, and a desire to keep the Mac distinct from the iPad. In Steven Levy’s exclusive WIRED story, Apple executives (including John Ternus and Johny Srouji) explain why that long-standing resistance finally ended with the 2026 MacBook Pro, which pairs a new PROLED XDR tandem OLED display and M5 chips with carefully integrated touch without adding weight, thickness, or compromising the trackpad-and-keyboard experience.
This turnaround [from “no touch on Mac displays” to the new MacBook Pro] is a big deal to Apple fans. Ternus shrugs off the drama. “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.”
Ternus and Apple want to make sure that the Mac faithful don’t panic that the 42-year-old franchise is losing its identity to Apple’s gangbusters mobile products. “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. That came together with the OLED screen, the best display we’ve ever put into a Mac,” Ternus told me. “All of these things, and, oh yeah, it has touch as well.”
Apple has a long history of refusing to implement certain desirable features, only to pivot when it feels the time is right. Steve Jobs once proclaimed iPods would never do video, until they did. He also once said “no one’s going to buy” a jumbo-size phone — and then Apple released a supersized iPhone 6. Then there was that time Jobs declared styluses inappropriate for tablets. Now the Apple Pencil works with iPads and the brand-new Duo.
The 2026 MacBook Pro instantly qualifies as the canonical example of this switcheroo…
I see what they mean about the display. It’s noticeably dense and bright, and the obsidian blacks are the deepest I’ve seen on a computer screen. In part because the OLED screen doesn’t require backlighting, this MacBook weighs less than its predecessor.
As a pair of Apple managers take the MacBook through its paces, I see how Apple has addressed some of [Phil] Schiller’s decade-old concerns, like having to redesign the menu bar for fingers. While it looks the same, when you move a finger over a menu item, it expands to allow you to select your choice with precision. Some of the objects on the screen, like the traffic-light buttons that close or hide windows, also get bigger when you touch them.
But what about greasy fingers messing up the screen? I was told that the new display has an anti-reflective outer coating that will require no more cleaning than your normal non-interactive screen.
MacDailyNews Take: We shall see, but, we expect we won’t be touching our displays much, if at all.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Gene Munster reports remarkably long lines at Apple stores on the iPhone Duo’s launch day despite its high price point. This strengthens his confidence in a 20 million unit FY27 forecast (about 7% of total iPhone units) — well above Street expectations of ~12 million. The incremental 8 million units, driven by customers switching from ~$1,200 ASP phones to the Duo’s ~$2,200 ASP, would add roughly $8 billion to iPhone revenue and lift FY27 iPhone growth to 13% versus the Street’s 10%. Even as a fractional part of the lineup, Munster argues the Duo is a meaningful new lever that could boost overall iPhone revenue growth by 3% in FY27 and 5% in FY28.
My initial read on the first hour of the Duo launch is that lines are surprisingly long given the high price point. My confidence in my estimate calling for 20m units in FY27 (7% of total iPhone units) inched up after this morning. The Street is looking for around 12m. That 8m incremental units should add about 3% to overall iPhone growth in FY27 (Street currently looking for 10%). The 3% upside comes from getting 8m people to switch from a $1.2k ASP phone to a $2.2k ASP phone, adding $8B to the Street’s FY27 iPhone revenue estimate of $279B. I expect iPhone to grow at 13% in FY27, vs. the Street at 10%…
I believe the reasonable takeaway is that the Duo is off to a solid start. It’s important to note that Wall Street expects this to be a niche product accounting for about 4% of iPhone units in FY27 and 7% of revenue. I’m more optimistic and expect Duo to account for 8% of units and 16% of revenue. Either way, the Duo will play a smaller role in the broader iPhone family in the following fiscal year. Looking out to FY28, I expect it will play a more significant role in the lineup.
The bottom line is Apple has discovered a new lever in the iPhone growth equation that should help boost overall revenue growth by 3% in FY27 and 5% in FY28. The Street is currently looking for 10% iPhone growth in FY27 and 8% in FY28. So I believe the Duo will slightly bump up those growth rates.
MacDailyNews Take: Even Gene might be a bit low on his expectations. It’ll all hinge on how many units Apple can get assembled!
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
