Disclaimer: My viewpoints are solely my own. I know absolutely nothing about Apple's future plans. All personal speculation.

A response to https://x.com/kettanaito/status/2110664687864230242?s=61

If you feel the same way as Artem, take a breath and relax.

I responded to Artem but wanted to share my thoughts in longer form.

First, Apple has a long history of releasing head-scratcher features, only to reveal their real reason for existing way later:

• Voice Control to prove out Siri's audio modality.

• The Touch Bar to prove out touchscreen keyboards (spoiler alert: it didn't).

• The iPhone Air to prove out thinness (for the foldable iPhone Duo, to start).

• The iPhone Air to prove out CPU/GPU in a thin, tiny rectangle (for a future wearable).

• The MacBook Neo to prove out macOS can run on iPhone silicon.

This is just a short list. There's more.

For people crashing out over the "uselessness" of a rumored touchscreen MacBook, let's consider the possibility of the real reason behind it: To prove out a touch-capable (TC) macOS.

Now, why would you want a TC macOS?

Well, the most obvious destination for a TC macOS is iPad Pro. Business-class users would pay a premium for that.

A less obvious destination for a TC macOS is a next-gen Vision device. Because if you can get a TC macOS, you can get to gaze-to-pinch macOS. (Hopefully, I don't need to explain why that would be an incredible game changer.)

An even less obvious destination: With multiple macOS devices … could you run local AI inference better with these devices networked together? A lot of missing steps to make this real, but this sets the foundation for that possibility.

Now, the short-sighted retort is that "well, why not just release macOS on iPadOS"? Because:

• Apple's not going to put an entire product class at risk with a feature that may not work as desired at launch

• Apple doesn't want users complaining why their iPads don't come with keyboards and trackpads for free

• Apple doesn't want an avalanche of negative social media saying this feature isn't ready for prime time

There's a ton of hate already for a touchscreen MacBook. Why make the hate blast radius even larger?

Anyway, it's funny to see all the posts on social media about how Apple can't innovate, and that their product vision passed when Steve Jobs did. Apple is literally playing long-game 3D chess with their product line, and people are crashing out thinking Apple's playing short-game checkers.

And besides, Ternus has just been there for a month. Let him cook for a bit before passing judgment.