Apple says a touchscreen Mac is ‘unlikely’

17 Oct 2014

Apple's iMac and a more traditional touch interface. Image via Denys Prykhodov/Shutterstock

While Apple’s recent history has shown the consumer tech titan embracing touch-screen technology, don’t expect its long-standing Mac series to join the party.

That’s according to the company’s senior vice-president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, who in an interview with CNET that followed the latest iPad and Mac launch yesterday, asserted that touchscreen would not be appropriate for the personal computer line.

“We don’t think it’s the right interface, honestly,” he said. “Mac is sort of a sit-down experience.”

According to Federighi, the logistics of having to continuously reach forward to touch a Mac monitor would be too awkward to appeal to users.

“We’ve really focused on building the best track pads we can, something where it feels (like) your posture’s relaxed, it’s a comfortable machine to use,” he said.

“And, of course, over the years we’ve experimented with all the technology, but we found it just wasn’t good.

“We’re not all that interested in building one.”

Last night, Apple launched two new iPad devices – the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3 – which feature Touch ID, Retina display, and even a specially designed processor (the A8X) for the iPad Air 2.

iMac image by Denys Prykhodov via Shutterstock

Dean Van Nguyen was a contributor to Silicon Republic

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