So The Touch Bar Is Dead, Not Because It Was Bad But Because Apple Never Developed It

Apple has never offered a touchscreen MacBook, but it has offered a touchscreen on a MacBook Pro. The Touch Bar was an incredibly polarising addition to an already polarising design for the 2016 MacBook Pro and now Apple has laid it to rest by providing full height function keys instead on the latest MacBook Pro models.

Over the last two years Apple has become expert at saying 'look we replaced the fancy new innovation we previously introduced and told you was a massive improvement with the thing it originally replaced' in a way which hasn't had commentators question the decision making process in the company.

First the Butterfly keyboard, then the re-introduction of MagSafe, legacy ports and the removal of the Touch Bar.

The most controversial introduction was the Butterfly keyboard, initially uncomfortable to type on, noisy and ultimately unreliable. Apple iterated the design and by 2019 had a version which fixed those problems. The last of the Butterfly keyboards may stand as the best ever put into a laptop.

In fixing the Butterfly keyboard, Apple's failed to  develop the Touch Bar which meant owners were shortchanged. Those who took the time to find third-party extensions extensions found a useful and customisable tool which more than made up for the loss of the physical escape key - one of the biggest early complaints. Once that was restored there really was little reason to kill the Touch Bar. 

My guess is that Apple chose to do so because it didn't want to expend further effort on the design; plus it would really prefer if the last five years of MacBook Pro history could be forgotten. To make that happen the Touch Bar had to go.

This was a real missed opportunity.