A touchscreen Mac combines the power of the iMac or MacBook with one of the most tactile and popular features of the iPhone and iPad: the ability to interact with the computer by touching onscreen icons, menus, and buttons. While not much is known about the touchscreen Mac right now, the rumor mill says it could debut soon.

When Could a Touchscreen Mac Be Released?

Plenty of laptops are equipped with a touchscreen, but this would be the first for an Apple computer. The company hasn’t been public about its efforts, but rumors point to a possible touchscreen Mac as early as 2025 or 2026. And there could even be two: a MacBook Pro laptop and an iMac desktop.

Here’s why the rumors are growing:

• Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has said that Apple “could launch its first touch-screen Mac in 2025.”
• The original MacBook from 2006 was upgraded with the Touch Bar in 2016. Another decade-long gap could bring touch functionality to the whole screen.

Is Apple Even Considering the Release of Any Kind of Touchscreen Mac?

Apple has avoided adding touchscreens to Macs, arguing that touch works better on devices like the iPad. But this could be changing. According to Bloomberg, the company is “actively engaged” in the project. There’s even talk of a foldable MacBook-iPad hybrid by 2027.

While nothing is official yet, Apple appears to be exploring ways to bring touch to the Mac. They seem to be taking their time to make sure it fits well with the overall Mac experience instead of just copying with Windows laptops have done.

Our Thoughts on Potential Touchscreen Mac Features

Given that the touchscreen Mac hasn’t been announced, and the rumors are still pretty sketchy, it’s hard to see with much confidence what features the device will deliver. (It’s not even certain that Apple will ever release a touchscreen model. Some company executives have said the Mac will never have a touch interface.)

We’ll update this article as more rumors and news give us a clearer picture of what a touchscreen Mac might be like.

For now, though, a combination of the information available today and some informed guesses suggests that a touchscreen Mac could deliver both a touchscreen interface for macOS and support for the Apple Pencil.

Touchscreen Interface for macOS

The idea of a touchscreen Mac has been around for a while, and what it would be is pretty easy to understand. Imagine a MacBook Pro or iMac that, in addition to controlling it with a keyboard and mouse, also lets you tap the screen to interact with the computer. Thinking of the iPad when used with a keyboard case gives a pretty good idea.

One rumor has suggested that a 2023 patent Apple received for a folding and pivoting stand for a desktop computer might actually be the basis for a touchscreen iMac.

Don’t expect the touchscreen Mac to start using the iPadOS. All rumors suggest that this device will run an updated version of macOS that supports touch.

Apple Pencil Support

If a Mac supports touch controls on its screen, it also stands to reason that it could support the Apple Pencil for onscreen drawing and writing. The large screen on a MacBook Pro or iMac seems well-suited to writing and drawing.

The ergonomics may be tricky, though: will it be comfortable to lean forward and reach out to write on a screen? Could that be where the folding and pivoting stand mentioned earlier comes into play? Or perhaps even a new laptop option that lets the user fold the screen back to use the MacBook like an iPad?