apple: Apple explains why there’s no touchscreen, FaceID on MacBook – Times of India

Earlier this month, Apple launched two new MacBook Pro models along with two powerful processors for them. While the processor and other features have been the talking points, all eyes (pun unintended) have been on the notch that Apple put on the MacBook Pro’s display. Some wondered whether the notch is for FaceID but it wasn’t and now Apple has explained why it doesn’t give a FaceID on the MacBook.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Tom Boger, VP of Mac and iPad product marketing, said that “Touch ID is more convenient on a laptop since your hands are already on the keyboard.” FaceID was introduced by Apple first in 2017 with the iPhone X when the notch made its first appearance.
Another criticism levelled at Apple around the MacBooks are lack of touchscreen on the laptops. There are many Windows PC from the likes of Lenovo, Dell, HP that come with a touchscreen. Even the affordable Chromebooks also come with touchscreen capabilities but Apple has steadfastly avoided entertaining the idea of putting a touchscreen in a Mac. The reason behind it is actually the iPad.
As John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, Apple, explained to The Wall Street Journal, “We make the world’s best touch computer on an iPad. It’s totally optimised for that. And the Mac is totally optimised for indirect input. We haven’t really felt a reason to change that.” The iPad Pro comes powered with an M1 processor and Apple does claim that it is much faster than a lot of Windows PCs. The iPad Pro does come with FaceID and there’s an option of buying the Magic Keyboard separately but that doesn’t have TouchID.
Not having a touchscreen has seen the likes of Microsoft and Intel poke fun at Apple many times through their ads. Perhaps the next target of digs and jabs poked towards Apple would be the notch on MacBook and the lack of facial recognition.