Apple Executives Defend New MacBook Pro Pricing: ‘We Don’t Design for Price, We Design for Quality, Experience’

Apple released its overhauled 2016 line of MacBook Pros on Thursday morning, ushering in an era of the Mac defined largely by Cupertino’s latest, greatest, and most innovative new creation — the machine’s new contextually-based, app specific, OLED Touch Bar.

Apple’s Touch Bar appears to be an absolute delight to use, however, you were perhaps a bit thrown off by the fact that Apple’s entry-level, 13-inch OLED Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro is being offered for a whopping $300 more than its Touch Bar-less sibling.

“So, what gives?” you might be wondering. “Are you telling me that I’m paying an extra $300, $500, just for a Touch Bar?”

Well, no, not exactly. You’re actually getting a faster, higher spec’d laptop computer. And while the apparent price hike may be difficult for some to swallow, it’s important to note that, for the extra money, you’re not only getting Apple’s OLED Touch Bar, but also a machine boasting considerably upgraded internals, including Intel’s latest processors and AMD graphics, vastly improved displays, faster storage, Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, and a longer lasting battery to run the show, untethered, for a full 10 hours.

Don’t see the logic in that argument? Well, maybe Apple’s own Senior Vice President of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, can best substantiate the price hike — from Apple’s point of view, of course.

“Affordability is absolutely something we care about,” Schiller said, as he sat alongside fellow Apple executives, Jony Ive and Craig Federighi, during an exclusive interview with CNET on Wednesday. “But we don’t design for price, we design for the experience and the quality people expect from Mac. Sometimes that means we end up at the higher end of the range, but not on purpose, just because that’s what it costs.”

Apple had come under scrutiny shortly after the launch of its new MacBook Pro, simply due to the apparent price gouging going in relation to the machine’s OLED Touch Bar. However, as Apple’s Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive, points out, not only was the OLED Touch Bar-equipped MacBook designed over the course of the last two years or so, but its cornerstone feature also “marks the beginning of a very interesting direction” for the future of Apple products.

In regards to why the 2016 MacBook Pro refresh took so long to design, Schiller offered that his company didn’t want to “just create a speed bump,” but rather, offer up a “big, big step forward.” Schiller also noted how the new OLED Touch Bar will enable Apple to “create many things to come, some of which we can’t envision yet.”

Do you think Apple’s revamped MacBook Pro is worth the extra money? Let us know in the comments!