Apple is planning a Touch Bar for every Apple Mac Computer and beyond
According to a patent revealed by Patently Apple this week, the latest MacBook Pro may not be the only device to integrate the company’s brand new touch-feature, defined within USPTO filings as “Dynamic Function Row”.
One of the illustrations accompanying the patent, shows at least four configurations covering the entire Mac product line categories, implemented in a variety of methods.
The drawings suggest that Apple is beginning to look into a completely new design for Mac desktop accessories like a Touch Bar enabled Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad, as well as a completely standalone version of the Dynamic Function Row, to be used with any and all Macs.
This should come as no surprise, mostly since Force Touch was perhaps the last technology to spread across the Mac product line, and that happened in 2015. In the way of innovation, with the exclusion of the Apple Pencil, which is another technology expected to follow suit with the Dynamic Function Row, not much else has happened, and it also seems Apple is waiting to close the loop with the Retina Display by shutting down production of the MacBook Air, the only product left out of the Retina refresh, before it moves on to bigger and better things.
We indeed live in interesting times, in regard to Apple, as the company is now at a stage where, it is still evaluating consumer feedback on both the Touch Bar and Apple Pencil, while having reached a stage in which a second iteration of both might be due quite soon, in some form or another.
The solution to a Touch Bar/Apple Pencil problem
When it comes to implementing brand new technology, Apple follows a similar pattern with each. When the Retina Display was first introduced with the iPhone 4, the transition to Macs wasn’t immediate, and it took a while before this amazing new display technology spread through every new MacBook and iMac. The next step was the phasing out of old tech, which meant discontinuing products that, while weren’t exactly “old”, didn’t need a refresh along the path prior to the one set by the Retina Display.
As a result, Apple has created a head-scratching dilemma for consumers, especially in regard to the Apple MacBook Air, which has survived to 2017, as the only surviving Apple Mac without a Retina Display, until this year, when Apple has finally began discontinuing the 11 inch version of the MacBook Air.
With regard to the Touch Bar and Apple Pencil, history is repeating itself. Apple Pencil is a product that currently works with the only two iPad models, the 12.9 inch and 9.7 inch iPad Pro. It doesn’t work with any other product, and for something with such hefty price tag, it would be uncharacteristic of Apple not to have something in the works to solve this problem.
This is where the Touch Bar comes to save the day:
The Apple Touch Bar is a feature with planned integration in as many future Mac Products as possible. The great news is that one of these products is the Apple Magic Trackpad, which also happens to be on the waiting list for Apple Pencil support.
The logic is simple: Apple has successfully created a popular product among creatives, which is the iPad Pro, but it still lags behind Microsoft when it comes to truly enhance Macs for creative categories like illustrators and sketch artists using Macs.
This is why the Magic Trackpad could be the product to watch, as integration of the Touch Bar, as well as Apple Pencil, could turn this simple, underrated accessory, into the ultimate game-changer for Mac-based creatives.
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