At the release of the new Macbook Pro in 2016 Apple introduced an unexpected change, the top row of keys on the butterfly keyboard was replaced by a new small touchscreen dubbed the Touchbar. But only 5 years later it was removed from almost all models, why?
The Touchbars Origin
At the time of the Touchbars release, the MacBook was going through a massive design change, shifting from the old designs to a design we would be more familiar with. As the MacBook Pro was (and still is) a very high-end product, Apple needed a way to give it extra value compared to the lower-end laptops. One such change came with the 2016 MacBook Pro when Apple swapped the classic function-row keys for a new touch-screen bar at the top of the screen dubbed the TouchBar. The TouchBar added more functionality to the keyboard for designers, adding colour sliders, emoji keys and easier commands.
Reasons for Removal
All was not well, however. Many people who purchased the Touchbar MacBooks felt that it was not as good as it could've been. Many reasons for this included the Touchbar's habit of glitching, causing lag, brightness issues and not having the features that people were so used to having on the function keys. So, starting in 2021, Apple removed the touchbar from most new MacBook Pros.
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Written by Tom Conmy
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Thanks Tom. Good work on the new design changes.