The Touch Bar was one of the biggest changes that were introduced in the 2016 MacBook Pro model, which was launched last October. It seems, however, that in a few months, Apple has begun to rethink the integration of this feature because rumors are now circulating that the company is considering removing the Touch Bar in the future versions of the model.
According to OS News, the reason why Apple is reconsidering the integration of the Touch Bar on their MacBook Pro units is because of the poor response from its consumers. The article reported that the announcement of the 2016 models resulted in higher orders of the older, Touch Bar-less devices, a number that increased even more once the first set of reviews began trickling to the public.
Another possible reason for this may be due to cost considerations. Droid Report surmised that removing the Touch Bar will mean producing — and selling — a cheaper MacBook Pro, making it more likely for consumers to purchase this device.
Either way, Apple has two paths ahead of them: to remove the Touch Bar from all their MacBook Pro models or to produce two sets of the device, one with the feature, and the other one without it.
Should this rumor be true, Apple will need quite some time to produce the MacBook Pro, since the company will essentially be going back to the drawing board to develop a gadget that is innovative but at the same time will not alienate its loyal fanbase. So far, it looks like the only known feature that this upcoming device will have is a Retina display. It is also possible that the new device will bear the Intel Kaby Lake processor.
Previously, consumers believed that the October 2016 MacBook Pro will bear this chipset, only to find out that it instead carried an older sixth generation processor. Apple, later on, explained that the reason for this was that the device went into production before the Kaby Lake processor was made available on the market. Since the chipset is now available, it is likely that the new MacBook Pro will carry this.
No release date has been announced yet for the release of the 2017 Macbook Pro model. However, some are surmising that the device can come out between September and October.
