The Death of the Touch Bar
The death of the Touch Bar has been predicted for a while, so it didn’t come as big news by itself, although its replacement with full-sized function keys was a welcome surprise.
What’s interesting about this, however, is whether the Touch Bar is truly dead for good.
In announcing the new design, Apple’s Mac Product Manager, Shruti Haldea, highlighted how the function keys were brought back because they were something that pro users loved. While some of that is just marketing, there’s a possible implication here that the new layout could be exclusive to Apple’s higher-end MacBooks.
Mind you, this may only refer to full-sized function keys, and it’s easy to see Apple retaining the slimmer row on the MacBook Air, even when it introduces the redesigned version of that entry-level model early next year. Apple may even decide to bring the Touch Bar to the MacBook Air, or at least retain it on the base 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens next year on that front.
While the Touch Bar has been pilloried by many serious Mac enthusiasts, it is a useful feature that more casual Mac users enjoy, which seems to line up with Haldea’s comments about pro users.
If it did happen, though, it would be an ironic twist, as the Touch Bar began as a higher-end feature, available only on the 15/16-inch MacBook Pro and premium 13-inch models. It didn’t even come to the base MacBook Pro until mid-2019, and yet today the entry-level M1 MacBook Pro is the only model that still includes it.