If you noticed each upgrade of OS X looks more like iPad OS and in this keynote Craig mentioned they are giving "All of the items a little more room to breathe" seems to me they are giving them more space for touch controls, Is Apple finally accepting touch is the future of computers? What do you think
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Is Apple Preparing OS X to use a touch screen interface?
- Thread starter riam
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I don't mind as long as it's optional. I can tolerate touch screen surfaces on a smaller, mobile devices, but not on a full powered device like a laptop or desktop. I can safely say I will always be a full keyboard and mouse user.
However it's been so long now with Apple having great touch technology at their disposal and with all they have done, a touch screen based Mac hasn't been one of them.
Well, what do YOU think? You posted the thread, but never really gave use your thoughts on it.
However it's been so long now with Apple having great touch technology at their disposal and with all they have done, a touch screen based Mac hasn't been one of them.
Well, what do YOU think? You posted the thread, but never really gave use your thoughts on it.
I agree based on what This updated MacOS UI shows
-Same Silicon. ( A12z example same processor in iPad and MacOS)
-Same UI/Icons , Same Codebase
-Spacing , UI changes in MacOS , especially control panel on top, indicates that MacOS is moving towards large touch display.
I wouldn't be surprised if a giant iPad screen transforms as iMac running on AXX processor along with new MacOS. This makes new iMac aka a large iPad hanged on stand
-Same Silicon. ( A12z example same processor in iPad and MacOS)
-Same UI/Icons , Same Codebase
-Spacing , UI changes in MacOS , especially control panel on top, indicates that MacOS is moving towards large touch display.
I wouldn't be surprised if a giant iPad screen transforms as iMac running on AXX processor along with new MacOS. This makes new iMac aka a large iPad hanged on stand
I think that for every type of interface they will be users that defend it or criticize it, and for apple to add a touch screen in conjunction with a keyboard won't affect the actual experience and they may gain some users that are waiting for that to happen, so in my opinion I think apple will add the touch screen interface and keep both of the interfaces active.
would I Use It? I don't know bit after using my iPad all day I some times see my self trying to click a link with my finger 😂
[automerge]1592972293[/automerge]
would I Use It? I don't know bit after using my iPad all day I some times see my self trying to click a link with my finger 😂
[automerge]1592972293[/automerge]
how long it took apple to get convinced with larger iPhones but Steve said it wasn't necessary finally the market told apple what it wanted
I never thought Apple would go there, but you have to imagine if they want people to run iOS apps on a Mac that they’d want to be able to touch them.
They'll probably make their own version of the Microsoft Surface Studio, which itself is pretty much a Mac-destined design.
But will the two product lines - macOS and iOS - converge? I don't see it happening. Apple will surely know that two revenue streams are better than one.
But will the two product lines - macOS and iOS - converge? I don't see it happening. Apple will surely know that two revenue streams are better than one.
I think touch screen Macs are definitely coming, you look at the Big Sur interface and there really is no other reason for some of the decisions made. The extra spacing between menu items. The larger buttons and sliders. It clearly suggests a world where you can interact with the interface through both touch and a pointing device.
I also think they are laying the groundwork for the various operating systems to coverage into just one AppleOS that will run and adapt itself to any given device.
I also think they are laying the groundwork for the various operating systems to coverage into just one AppleOS that will run and adapt itself to any given device.
Don't see any indication of touch coming to Bug Sur (or beyond), it's pretty much still point/click/drag. There are no new APIs for touch-enabled apps and I don't really understand why the UI redesign should point to touch interface.
Yes, the UI/icons looks more like iPad... which makes sense to me as Apple wants to unify the appearance across their different OSes. I always though it was weird that icons differed between the iOS and the macOS. Same design language = easier to design apps, more intuitive controls.
Yes, the UI/icons looks more like iPad... which makes sense to me as Apple wants to unify the appearance across their different OSes. I always though it was weird that icons differed between the iOS and the macOS. Same design language = easier to design apps, more intuitive controls.
Totally agree - The spacing on the menu bar looks awful, so surely can‘t be a design choice?!
It is, technically, a design choice, but I agree it is likely with a view toward adding touch support to a future Mac product.
Personally I'd ignore all of the things Apple said before.
I can 100% see this happening.
2 points:
1: As we know, touch designed based iOS apps are going to run naively on new ARM Mac's in the future.
2: Take a child you was given an iPad at a young age, from the age of, let's say 3, 4, 5 they will be using touch for everything. their entire computing world will be touch, and simply accept screens accept touch input.
A few years on, and you give them a Macbook, the 1st thing they will do it touch the screen as they have been doing all their lives and simply expect it to work.
Sure Apple said NO, but then they said no Stylus/Pencil, they said no BIG screen phones.
They only say no, when they don't want to sell it NOW.
It's all leading to be touch enabled when the price is right and they decide now is the time.
Personally I think it's unthinkable to say Apple will NEVER allow touch screens.
I can 100% see this happening.
2 points:
1: As we know, touch designed based iOS apps are going to run naively on new ARM Mac's in the future.
2: Take a child you was given an iPad at a young age, from the age of, let's say 3, 4, 5 they will be using touch for everything. their entire computing world will be touch, and simply accept screens accept touch input.
A few years on, and you give them a Macbook, the 1st thing they will do it touch the screen as they have been doing all their lives and simply expect it to work.
Sure Apple said NO, but then they said no Stylus/Pencil, they said no BIG screen phones.
They only say no, when they don't want to sell it NOW.
It's all leading to be touch enabled when the price is right and they decide now is the time.
Personally I think it's unthinkable to say Apple will NEVER allow touch screens.
Totally this. I grew up with ugly WinXP netbooks, but my niece is growing up on smartphones. It'll be logical that when she interacts with something like an iMac, she may try to touch the display instead of using the keyboard and mouse.
Think about how it's going to run all iPad apps, and what user interface/controls are iPad apps primarily designed for?
Listened today to a couple of podcasts with will known presenters and on both of them, there are guesses between fro day 1, to a day 2 years from now where touch will come to Apple ARM Laptops.
It simply just makes sense for it to be an option.
Not made it mandatory, and design a desktop OS which needs touch.
But simply, default to all/most screens simply having touch in X years time, so it works if you want it.
And as said before, ALL children will grow up in a world where ALL screens they have access to for the 1st 5 - 10 years of their life will be touch enabled.
Why would you want to take that ability away when they move onto better? machines.....
It's coming, we just need to always remember, Apple will always say NO until it happens, and then it's the best thing ever
Remember this advert from 5 years ago, about how BIG phones were a bad design and Apple were right to stick to a small size:
Where are we now 5 years later
Listened today to a couple of podcasts with will known presenters and on both of them, there are guesses between fro day 1, to a day 2 years from now where touch will come to Apple ARM Laptops.
It simply just makes sense for it to be an option.
Not made it mandatory, and design a desktop OS which needs touch.
But simply, default to all/most screens simply having touch in X years time, so it works if you want it.
And as said before, ALL children will grow up in a world where ALL screens they have access to for the 1st 5 - 10 years of their life will be touch enabled.
Why would you want to take that ability away when they move onto better? machines.....
It's coming, we just need to always remember, Apple will always say NO until it happens, and then it's the best thing ever
Remember this advert from 5 years ago, about how BIG phones were a bad design and Apple were right to stick to a small size:
Where are we now 5 years later
The spacing designed into Big Sur yells touch screen is coming. It's appears to be a compromise to allow fat fingers to hit controls that penalizes efficient use of space and mouse control. Unfortunately, I think we can expect to see even more spacing as they tweak the design.
Not necessarily. There's a lot of things where Apple waits till years later after the rest of the industry does it to implement it themselves. Widgets on iOS 14 is a recent example. Android has had that since 2009. A lot of the time this delayed approach to adopting things usually results in Apple executing it better.
[automerge]1593210458[/automerge]
I don't think that's true. There would still be differentiation in overall form factor and likely performance (even after the Apple Silicon transition completes). Touch isn't the iPad's only feature or reason to buy one.
Macbooks are not going to get a ton of camera's on the back, or things like gyro's accelerometers etc etc.
So there will still be differences in the products.
And I'm sure we all know the macbooks will get the beefier CPU's with more "grunt" for more heavyweight apps.
So there will be reasons for each physical product to exist.
So there will still be differences in the products.
And I'm sure we all know the macbooks will get the beefier CPU's with more "grunt" for more heavyweight apps.
So there will be reasons for each physical product to exist.
If they can put MacOS 11 on an iPad there is no reason to buy a Macbook Air anymore.
The iPads will run a lot slower given the demands of a heavier OS compared to the final chips they put in the Macbooks, which will have more memory, clocked higher and probably many other enhancements that place power demands and heat dispersion that's not possible on an iPad.
In the short term, I think it’s more about reducing the UI layout work for catalyst apps moving to the Mac. Both for Apple and for 3rd parties.
I’m not a dev, but I’m assuming that to port over a looser layout touch friendly iPad UI to the far denser layout of Catalina requires extra work.
So I’m assuming that making the layout of iPad and Mac apps as similar as possible is the goal.
No doubt that Apple has Macs with high res / high dpi micro-led screens in their roadmap so the looser layout likely makes sense too on those screens.
Medium term (2 years out), I think this is pointing to a Mac (or iPad) that switches between desktop and touch modes. At that point what is MacOs and what is iPadOS will start to blur.
To do this properly, they’ll need the vast majority of apps to be on catalyst or SwiftUI (Remember I’m not a dev - those of you who are can probably tell!) with both modes in the app binary.
So I’m assuming that Apple will work out a roadmap to this this at some point - some way to port elements of appkit apps to catalyst/SwiftUI I’d guess?
I’m not a dev, but I’m assuming that to port over a looser layout touch friendly iPad UI to the far denser layout of Catalina requires extra work.
So I’m assuming that making the layout of iPad and Mac apps as similar as possible is the goal.
No doubt that Apple has Macs with high res / high dpi micro-led screens in their roadmap so the looser layout likely makes sense too on those screens.
Medium term (2 years out), I think this is pointing to a Mac (or iPad) that switches between desktop and touch modes. At that point what is MacOs and what is iPadOS will start to blur.
To do this properly, they’ll need the vast majority of apps to be on catalyst or SwiftUI (Remember I’m not a dev - those of you who are can probably tell!) with both modes in the app binary.
So I’m assuming that Apple will work out a roadmap to this this at some point - some way to port elements of appkit apps to catalyst/SwiftUI I’d guess?