New MacBook Pro features Touch ID power button, OLED touch-sensitive function keys

Apple may not be keen on producing touch-sensitive screens for its Macbook Pros but the tech giant is highly likely to bring the Touch ID feature of iPhone and iPad to its top-of-the-line notebook computers.

Apple-tracking site 9to5Mac reports that Apple will soon offer new MacBook Pros equipped with Touch ID sensor for fingerprint scanning security. The site claimed that the Touch ID sensor will be found on MacBook Pro’s power button.

With the Touch ID, users can bypass keying in a passcode by simply swiping their fingers onto the biometric fingerprint scanner. The Touch ID feature can also aid users in making online purchases via the Mac App Store or verifying other e-commerce transactions.

While this is a novel feature to Apple computers, adding Touch ID to the MacBook Pro would only be a catch-up feature since Lenovo and other Windows PC makers have long offered biometric security in its devices.

Meanwhile KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has been reportedly spot-on with Apple rumours in the past, was quoted as saying the new MacBook Pros will also feature an OLED touch bar for the function keys. The touch bar is rumoured to be located above the MacBook’s keyboard.

It is not clear when Apple is launching the new MacBook Pros but the eighth biggest company in the world, according to Forbes, is rumoured to unveil the high-end laptop computers in the fourth quarter or in the fall. As of press time, retail price is still unknown.