Why Apple Is Not Removing Physical Keyboard From Its MacBooks, Mac Computers

Ever since Apple introduced its new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar many have started speculating that the addition of a touch-screen strip into the the Cupertino giant’s premium laptops could mean the impending removal of the physical keyboard. Unfortunately for people who came up with this speculation, Apple’s vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, has revealed that this is not the case.

On Monday, Backchannel’s Steven Levy published a story about a conversation he had with Schiller in which the latter revealed that the tech giant did test out touch screens for the Mac devices. “We think of the whole platform. If we were to do Multi-Touch on the screen of the notebook, that wouldn’t be enough — then the desktop wouldn’t work that way,” Schiller said. “Can you imagine a 27-inch iMac where you have to reach over the air to try to touch and do things? That becomes absurd.”

According to Schiller, creating touch-screen Mac devices would just ruin the user experience of its established computers since optimization for both the touch display and pointer devices would be impossible. “You can’t optimize for both. It’s the lowest common denominator thinking,” Schiller said before confirming that the company’s teams did try creating touch screens for the Mac for a “number of times over the years.” However, by testing the technology, Schiller said that they have understood why it did not make sense for them to come up with MacBooks and Mac computers with touch-screen display.

Tackling the issue on whether or not Apple is planning to officially ditch the physical keyboard of its Mac devices, Schiller said that the idea is “not on the horizon right now.” He did not say that this is never going to happen. Instead, he clarified that as of this time, there is no need to do this because Apple is focused more on making a better keyboard and not removing the physical keys of its computers.

Meanwhile, to address the issue on why the Cupertino giant decided to switch to Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports for its new MacBook Pros, Schiller maintained that they are certain about this move because USB-C will soon become the new standard in the tech industry. He said this despite of confirming that they value the feedback of their customers, and many people have since been complaining about the need of purchasing dongles to maximize the use of the Thunderbolt 3 ports. "There are people who want us to innovate faster and when we do there’s people who say, ‘Whoa, whoa, you’re going too fast,'” he said.

Despite the controversies that are being thrown at Apple for adding a feature to its new MacBooks that no one asked for and removing ports that consumers have grown accustomed to using, the company’s new premium laptops are expected to perform well in the market. Fortune has learned that the new MacBook Pro has surpassed all of its professional-focused predecessors in terms of the number of preorders the company got from customers since it was announced.

Digitimes reported last week that Apple is expected to ship 15 million units of its new MacBook Pros before 2016 ends. Then, the company is expected to ship the same number of units the following year. As of today, the tech giant has satisfied the preorders of the first customers to secure their own MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. However, it isn't clear yet how many units the company delivered for its first round of shipments.