MacBook Neo 2 With a Touch Screen Has Gone From Yes to Maybe to No

After decades of availability on windows machines I still do not understand why I’d ever want a touch screen laptop. Like maybe some sort of convertible that could act like a pure tablet as long as the transition was seamless and the device light weight but reaching out to touch the screen when I have more ergonomic access to the keyboard and touxhpad? Why?

The touch screen rumor cycle around the Neo is probably missing the point.

People tend to frame this as a philosophical question to whether Apple is finally willing to admit that touch belongs on the Mac. But the Neo isn’t really a philosophical product. It’s a cost engineered one.

The entire reason the Neo exists at $499–$599 is that Apple is reusing a huge amount of the iPhone silicon ecosystem and keeping the hardware extremely simple. Once you understand that, the touch question becomes much less mysterious.

Adding touch isn’t just “one extra feature.” It means a different display assembly. Higher cost and higher complexity.

And the Neo doesn’t actually need touch to succeed in the segment Apple is targeting.

The machine isn’t competing with iPads. It’s competing with the low end Windows and Chromebook laptops that dominate the $400–$700 retail band. In that market, the differentiator Apple is introducing isn’t touch, it’s Apple Silicon efficiency, build quality, and the macOS ecosystem at a price point where Macs historically didn’t exist.

So the real question isn’t “why doesn’t the Neo have touch?”

The real question is: What problem would touch solve for this product that Apple currently needs solved?

Until there’s a clear answer to that, the simplest explanation is that Apple will keep the Neo exactly as it is, cheap, simple, and strategically disruptive to the bottom end of the laptop market.

Touch screens make much more sense on higher margin Macs where Apple can absorb the cost without undermining the whole point of the machine.

Isnt this obvious? Why would Apple give a feature to entry level product but not available in upper tier products (unless entire mac lineup would have touch screen feature in next iteration)

If you want an A18-powered device with a touchscreen, you can buy an iPad.

By 2035 Neo will have Oled or touch or maybe both ...im a pro leaker now
So if i make this "leak" on X i will end up here probably

This device is using binned leftover chips from the 16 Pro with 1 less GPU core. The SoC was basically free, which is what keeps the price of this laptop down. They won’t switch to a touchscreen until they have so many stocked in a warehouse collecting dust that it is cheaper to use them than to shop for something else.