macOS 16 could answer this key question about the Mac’s future

This year’s WWDC is going to be a big one for software changes, with iOS 19, macOS 16, and more expected to get major design overhauls. While a lot of focus is on the iPhone’s changes, there’s a very important reason why macOS 16 could prove just as significant: it may be the best evidence yet that touchscreen Macs are finally coming.

The first touchscreen Mac might arrive next year, and WWDC will be telling

Apple shipped the iPhone with multitouch in 2007. It followed up with the iPad in 2010. And all throughout the many years since then, bringing touch to the Mac has been a constant question.

Executives at Apple have regularly shot down the idea. But as history has proven, Apple can deny something vehemently only to be secretly working on it behind the scenes.

Yet so much time has passed. Touch has long become the norm on PCs, but there are still no touchscreen Macs.

Leaving aside macOS 16 for a moment though, the 2026 MacBook Pro sounds like the best chance yet for that to change.

That’s because it’s expected to boast a major hardware redesign that’s thinner, lighter, uses OLED, the M6 chip line, and possibly even a C1 or C2 modem.

The history of rumors around this model indicate that touch support could be a key feature too.

We’re 18+ months away from that new MacBook Pro’s launch though. But thanks to Apple’s upcoming software revamps, we shouldn’t have to wait nearly that long to discover whether the touchscreen Mac smoke truly means fire.

macOS 16 will either strongly hint at touchscreen Macs, or put an end to our hope

I remember when macOS Big Sur’s redesign stirred up a wave of excitement that Macs with touch could be coming.

At the time, executives like Craig Federighi suggested users were reading too much into some small design tweaks.

But when macOS 16 is introduced this June—in just three months—I expect a different scenario.

Big Sur made macOS slightly more touch-friendly, but if Apple is truly planning to launch its first touchscreen Macs soon, macOS 16 will almost certainly make that clear.

One of two things will happen. Either:

1. macOS 16 will have big changes that make touchscreen Macs seem obvious
2. or it won’t, and we can give up hope of a touchscreen MacBook Pro next year or any time soon

In the second scenario, normally I might say that there’s always macOS 17.

But if macOS 16 is getting a big redesign, is it really plausible that Apple will make major changes again with macOS 17?

If touchscreen Macs are truly coming, the clues should be evident in June. And if they’re not, we should know that after WWDC too.

Either way, I expect macOS 16 to provide much needed clarity on Apple’s current plans for touchscreen Macs.

Do you think macOS 16 will reveal optimizations for touchscreen Macs? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.

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