The Touch Bar is on its way out, an now new reports and concepts are pointing toward an interesting replacement for it: A slot for the Apple Pencil.
According to a new patent published earlier this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple is interested in the idea of the Touch Bar being replaced by a dock or case for Apple Pencil.
The patent shows the Apple Pencil housed in its dock and explains that it could “act as a mouse to move a cursor.” Even more interestingly, the patent describes the Apple Pencil as a feature that could replace the F-key row. This means it could host functional keys that you can interact with right on the side of the stylus.
The patent was initially spotted by Patently Apple, which includes the following statement: “The present invention relates to incorporating an Apple Pencil that is removably mounted to a MacBook keyboard. While the Pencil is in its retainer, it could act as a mouse to move a cursor. Uniquely, a high-end lighting system is built-into the retainer and the Apple Pencil wherein the Pencil can replace the top F-Key row with the functional key symbols illuminated on Apple Pencil with full functionality.”
The patent also would allow Apple to use the side or the bottom of the laptop’s body as possible locations for housing the stylus, as we’ve seen other laptops do.
It’s all interesting, though there’s a rather large elephant in the room. As of now, the Apple Pencil works exclusively with iPads. MacBooks famously don’t have touchscreens, meaning a lot would have to change for this to make sense.
Patents, of course, aren’t proof that Apple has actually developed any of these ideas into possible product designs.
Inspired by the patent, designer Sarang Sheth brought the imagined concept to life in some 3D images. The images show how the Apple Pencil could slot easily into the space where the function row used to be. Interestingly, these concepts also keep a smaller version of the Touch Bar for quick access to Siri and other useful apps.
The imagined concept of the new MacBook Pro looks very similar to the Microsoft Surface Pro X released in 2019, It features a Surface Slim Pen that is stored and charged in a built-in stylus dock that runs along the top deck of the laptop.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.