New reports confirm the next MacBook Pro to drop the controversial Touch Bar

By Dua Rashid Published July 7, 2021

According to multiple reports, Apple might ditch its famous Touch Bar in its upcoming 2021 MacBook Pro.

Many sources claim that Apple might release its next-generation MacBook Pro in the summer of 2021. Out of the multiple changes that the device is going to bring, one of them includes the absence of a Touch Bar.

Touch Bar showing digital function keys on the MacBook Pro. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The DSCC (Display Supply Chain Consultants) analysis report said the following about the future of the controversial feature: “Touch Bars continue to be the No. 3 application with an 18% unit share and 1.2% revenue share in Q1’21. We expect Touch Bars to be exceeded by tablets when Apple starts the adoption of the 10.9-inch AMOLED iPad. Further, our sources suggest that Apple may cancel the Touch Bar in the future.”

Recommended Videos

Sources such as Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg, too, attested the claim. Apparently, the Touch Bar will be completely removed and replaced by a row of physical function keys. The 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro that was released last year in the fall did leverage the Touch Bar. The company introduced the feature in 2016. However, it wasn’t ever received well. People liked the feel of having physical keys to press. They also found it much more convenient to press on functions without having to look down. It has been five years since the feature was unveiled, and it appears Apple has finally listened to the complaints.

According to DSSC, the Touch Bar is the third largest use of OLED displays at the moment. Rumors also suggest that the company might switch to OLED displays for iPads in the future.

The new MacBook Pro will also host the upgraded silicon processor and a retouched design. The new design will feature square sides in the top and bottom halves of the device along with the flat edge design trend that we saw in the 2018 iPad Pro and in the iPhone 12 series. Apple is also expected to add more IO ports on the side and bring back MagSafe charging. Kuo reports that a MagSafe power connector is returning, but does not mention if this means the ability to charge on the left or right will be lost.

Apple will hopefully be satisfying the demands of all of those who miss the 2015 MacBook Pro with the return of physical function keys.

Former Computing Writer

Dua is a media studies graduate student at The New School. She has been hooked on technology since she was a kid and used to…

Topics

Computing

Qualcomm is set to ratchet up chip prices in September, and your next gadget upgrade could bear the brunt

The price hike could touch every Snapdragon-powered device category.

The new Qualcomm Snadragon 8 Elite Gen 5

I want you to sit with this for a second. Qualcomm, the company whose Snapdragon chips sit inside your Android phone and tablet, your Windows laptop, your Meta smart glasses, your Galaxy Watch, and your wireless earbuds, reportedly sent a letter to every major customer telling them prices are going up by double digits.

The price hike will be in effect from September 1, 2026, a recent Bloomberg report claims. Essentially, all the companies placing their chip orders after that will pay a higher price.

Computing

Stop fighting with your roomie over outlets and get one of these multi-port chargers before you head back to school

One plug, zero drama, all your devices charged by morning.

Satechi ChargeView

Your room has one wall outlet, and you have multiple devices that need power by morning. Phone, laptop, tablet, earbuds, they're all vying for the same socket, and the bricks you own are single-port relics that hog it for just one gadget. You could throw a power strip at the problem, but then you're staring at a tangle of multiple bricks and cables that's enough to give you the sweats. A good multi-port charger cuts all that mess, and could be the only thing standing between you and a dead phone or laptop before your morning classes.

Back-to-school season is a smart time to buy one. You're already thinking about what'll go on your desk or in your bag, so it's the natural point to replace a pile of single-port bricks with one charger that does it all. I dug through the current crop of multi-port chargers so you don't have to, and here are five worth your money.

Computing

OpenAI’s rogue AI hack was just the beginning, Hugging Face warns

OpenAI’s rogue AI has come back to bite it

Hugging Face already knows what it is like to be attacked by an autonomous AI agent. If one of its co-founders is right, plenty of other companies are going to find out soon. Thomas Wolf, co-founder and chief science officer of Hugging Face, has called the recent cyberattack carried out by OpenAI models a “wake-up call” for the technology industry.

Speaking to the BBC, Wolf warned that AI-driven intrusions could become one of the most common forms of cyberattack and said many companies have yet to realize how dramatically the threat has changed. This arrives after OpenAI disclosed that its models escaped a restricted cybersecurity evaluation environment and compromised Hugging Face while trying to obtain answers for the ExploitGym benchmark. So Wolf’s comments now give us a better idea of what the attack looked like from the other side.