Apple Files Patent For Touchscreen MacBook Pro

Laptop manufacturers have long been introducing touch screens on their machines for the past several years but not Apple MacBooks. In 2010, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing shared that the company tried experimenting with touchscreens but realized that it offers challenges with interactions. However, it seems that the Cupertino tech giant is now looking into touchscreens on the MacBook Pro if the recently spotted patent is to go by.

Touchscreen MacBook Pro

The new patent filed by Apple first reported by Apple Insider hints that the Cupertino company is considering a touchscreen MacBook Pro. The patent is filed under the US Patent No 20200019367 titled “Cross-Device Interactions.” In one of the descriptions, Apple explicitly mentions touchscreen laptops.

The patent calls a smartphone as Electronic Device 5004 while the screen of a laptop is Electronic Device 5012. It stated that “In some embodiments, display 5012 is also a touch-sensitive display,” Moreover, it says that “in one or more of such embodiments, the user optionally performs a variety of finger inputs over display 5012 to enter user inputs via display 5012.”

Goals For Touchscreen MacBook Pro

Based on the description, it seems that the Cupertino company wants to increase productivity. Apple recognizes the need for electronic devices that offer efficient techniques and interfaces for interacting between gadgets. The company believes that these methods could minimize the user’s cognitive burden with contents displayed on the superimposed user interface of computer devices, thus increasing productivity.

Additionally, Apple thinks that the current methods, like how images are shown, are no longer efficient. The Cupertino claims that these methods take longer than necessary, which is essential for devices relying on batteries. Users could also get distracted by abrupt disruptions between different user interfaces, Apple says.

Apple has not yet released any statement related to a touchscreen MacBook Pro. Although this latest information is interesting, it is too early to get excited, considering that this is just a patent. Tech companies like Apple file patents periodically.

Most of the time, these patents do not enter production while some end up in the market. Meanwhile, 9to4mac reported strings of code found in the beta version of macOS, which referenced to the Pro Mode feature. The recently discovered codes triggered speculations that Apple might soon roll out an update that could enable MacBook to operate in a more powerful mode.