Apple is considering developing a MacBook with a touch screen, a major update that is expected to be seen in the first OLED MacBook Pro due out in 2025.

Engineers are actively working on the project, according to people familiar with the matter, suggesting that Apple appears to be serious about introducing a touch-screen Mac laptop. Internal discussions suggest that Apple could launch its first touch-screen MacBook Pro as early as 2025, but plans could still change.

The MacBook Pro with a touch screen will retain the traditional laptop design, including the standard trackpad and keyboard, but the screen will support touch input and gesture, a major update that could be expanded to other lineup of laptops in the future.

Apple also plans to make the new MacBook Pro with an OLED screen. Apple's current MacBook has an LCD screen, while the iPhone and Apple Watch already have OLED screens. The new iPad Pro, due out in the first half of 2024, will also join the list of OLED screens. Apple declined to comment on the report.

For more than a decade, Apple has been more conservative about using touch screens on its laptops for fear of being too effective, arguing that if it wanted to use a touch interface, the iPad would be the better choice, and fearing that iPad sales would suffer if it introduced a touchscreen MacBook.

Still, Apple has been forced to join a growing list of competitors using touch screens on their laptops in recent years. Most of them, including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Lenovo, Samsung Electronics and Acer, have made strides in this area. Apple is currently the only major laptop vendor that refuses to offer touch screens.

The move to a touch screen on the MacBook is a major shift for Apple. The late Apple founder Steve Jobs didn't think the idea would work, saying that with the screen perpendicular to the face, users would have to lift their hands to use the touch screen, which would make them sore over time and therefore unergonomic.

Tim Cook, Microsoft's chief executive, has taken the same position as Jobs over the past few years, criticizing in 2012 that Microsoft's combination of a tablet and a laptop amounted to a product that was both a toaster and a refrigerator.

However, there have been signs in recent years that Apple is considering a change of course. The company began integrating iPad and Mac apps in 2018 and allowed iPhone apps to work on computers from 2020, but the shift also drew attention to the Mac's lack of touch, That's because using an App specifically designed for the iPhone on a Mac might not be as convenient.

Even if Apple decides to bring touch to the MacBook, there are currently no plans to combine the iPad and Mac operating systems and the first MacBook with a touch screen will likely stick with macOS, according to people familiar with the matter.

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