Apple's decision to put a touch screen on the Mac was not unanimous, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter, he reported that Tim Cook and current CEO John Ternus believed customers had begun to expect touchscreen Macs, while the industrial design team remained opposed. The compromise - the keyboard and trackpad stay central, with touch offered as another input method.
A pricier tier above today's Pros
Gurman said the OLED touch models will sit in a new, more expensive tier. The 14-inch and 16-inch notebooks will carry a 'significantly higher price' than the current high-end models, which start at $2,499. The existing mini-LED MacBook Pro models will stay in the lineup for now but will eventually be discontinued, he added.
Scanner to catch return fraud
Apple is giving store staff a tool aimed at return scams. According to Gurman, some buyers remove accessories, components or the entire phone from the box, then try to return it, hoping staff won't notice. The new device can scan an in-box iPhone and run diagnostics to confirm it is intact, leaving the box sealed so it can go back into inventory. It started arriving in stores earlier this month and is now becoming operational. It builds on Presto, the technology that lets Apple install software updates on iPhones without opening their retail packaging. At present, staff open boxes even when they appear sealed, and the phone must then go to a warehouse for processing instead of straight back on the shelf.
Gurman calls Duo pre-orders a 'major mistake'
In the same newsletter, Gurman criticised Apple's iPhone Duo launch. He said Apple knew the phone would face severe supply constraints because of manufacturing challenges, yet opened pre-orders on Friday instead of waiting for more inventory.
