Apple Magic Keyboard could get MacBook Pro built-in Touch Bar for iMac, Mac Mini and Mac Pro

In the wake of Apple unveiling a brand new line of Touch Bar-endowed MacBooks, one of many big questions is: how long before Mac desktops users get to play with Apple’s brand new toy?

While no official word is expected from Apple (as if that has ever happened), somebody has been looking into creating a repeat of the prophetic OLED MacBook Pro renderings, by visualizing what the Apple Magic Keyboard would look like, with its function keys row replaced by a Touch Bar.

While the result is unmistakably “Apple-like”, largely in a good way, there are a few design choices that are bound to go against the grain, as far as Apple’s general direction with new products, particularly in reference with the company’s obsession with thinness.

The concept features an Apple Magic Keyboard that is actually thicker than the actual latest version, which makes sense in the real world, as the OLED Touch Bar requires additional power to operate and to communicate with macOS. The current version of the Magic Keyboard lasts a full month. This presents an image problem for Apple, and one that the Cupertino tech giant may not be prepared to compromise on.

Apple has spent considerable resources in eliminating wires and triple-A batteries. By this token, implementing such a resource-heavy feature like an OLED Touch Bar in the Magic Keyboard would be counter-productive, even if it’s very likely that many users would love the option if it became available.

With that said, word is circulating in regard to Apple planning to upgrade the Magic Trackpad, as well as the Force Touch Trackpad on future MacBooks, to be compatible with Apple Pencil, a move that would make plenty of Apple Pencil users, current and prospective, very happy. If such rumor turns into reality, the chances for an OLED Touch Bar to appear on future iterations of the Magic Keyboard, could improve dramatically, since extending support of the Apple Pencil to other devices means a different approach to power management and requirements. This however may not mean a compromise in the design of new devices, for instance a thicker Magic TrackPad, or a thicker Magic Keyboard. It simply means that Apple needs to come up with a different way to build batteries, just as it did with the 12 inch MacBook Retina.

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