“If you look at the cost differences between the non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro and the Touch Bar versions, there seems to be about a $200 price difference for roughly equivalent models,” Chuq Von Rospach blogs for Chuqui.com. “For the sake of simplifying the discussion, let’s set the price for this system to be $200.”
“That’s not the cost of the Touch Bar, however. That entire subsystem breaks down roughly into three pieces: The Secure Enclave unit, the TouchID sensor, and the Touch Bar itself. From the looks of it, most of the cost is in the Secure Enclave system itself,” Von Rospach writes. “Give that cost breakdown, we can make some assumptions. If we assume that Apple is committed to using the Secure Enclave in Macs to enable user authentication and to secure Apple Pay, I think it’s okay to assume Apple will be including it in most, if not all, future Macs. If that’s true, then the economics of the Touch Bar are minimal.”
“If I’m right, future Macs will use the infrared facial recognition, and they can embed those sensors in the bezel of the monitor on both the iMac and the laptops. This simplifies the problem of needing to secure the communication between the sensor and the Secure Enclave; by moving those sensors into the device and off the keyboard, everything gets a lot cleaner,” Von Rospach writes. “And they can build a much less expensive keyboard with a Touch Bar on it that doesn’t require the level of communication security that would be required if it also had the TouchID sensor.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If so, expect Apple’s Magic Keyboard with Touch Bar soon!
I don’t “love” the touch bar, I use it rarely but when I do its nice. I do however use touch ID all the time to log in and LOVE IT. I def want to see Apple Pay everywhere and so it would be great to have it on an external keyboard. So lets hope MDN is correct and we’ll see it “soon”.
If Apple wants the Touchbar to become truly useful, it must release a separate touchbar KB.
The Gadget/Gizmo Bar is worth about $10.
I always thought they should release a ‘keyboard’ that is more like a long iPhone, with a screen that can change. When you need a keyboard, it’s a keyboard. If you’re using FCP, it can be video and audio tools.