The first thing that came to mind when I read this quote was the possibility of a touchscreen Mac. I don’t care to have one, but I know many are interested. This quote seems to open that door in principle.
My thinking always evolves. Steve taught me well: never to get married to your convictions of yesterday. To always, if presented with something new that says you were wrong, admit it and go forward instead of continuing to hunker down and say why you’re right.
" When the Facts Change, I Change My Mind. What Do You Do, Sir?"
- John Maynard Keynes
Possibly apocryphal: When the Facts Change, I Change My Mind. What Do You Do, Sir? – Quote Investigator®
Good advice nevertheless.
If Apple is considering a touch screen Mac I wonder, by the time it arrives, will it still be a Mac?
This is not the forum for existential or ontological questions. 
Sorry, I was wondering about Apple finally merging macOS and iPadOS. I never thought someone would confuse me with a deep thinker. 
That made me laugh. 
Look on the bright side, you could be accused of worse. 
I had a Touch-Screen-Windows Computer some 10 years ago, and it was a nightmare to operate it!
This might be something for very special use cases, but it is nothing the “normal user” ever will be happy with…
I increasingly think convergence would mean a more Mac-like iPad, even more than a more iPad-like Mac. Evidence so far supports this, I’d argue, with extensive mouse and keyboard support for iPad, the Finder-like Files app, Sidecar and Universal Control. Only time will tell.
I can see a hybrid being more Mac-like in ability. But MacBooks that cannot be upgraded share that hardware “feature” with the iPad. Yes, only time will tell.
Looking at the original posted quote, there’s obviously no connection between that quote and a touch screen Mac.
Obviously speculation as that’s all anyone can do, I’m going with no. We’re 3.5 years into iPadOS and that’s where touch will remain. They’ve come too far with the iPad at this point to change over to adding touch on the Mac. They’ll continue to evolve iPadOS with more Mac like features for users that want them.
I think many/most of the Apple pundits that keep complaining about the advanced features of the iPad not being enough are just now all echoing the current popular opinion that’s coalesced around Viticci’s frustration around the iPad. That’s another subject but worth mentioning because he’s become a focal point and a part of the wishcasting/rumor mill.
Over the past several months I’ve gotten in the bad habit of posting rebuttals on my blog/mastodon on the occasions that they actually get facts wrong. Sometimes it’s just opinion which I ignore, but when they actually fail on basic facts about “missing” features I often can’t help myself. A recent example, a former MacWorld writer made a snarky post on Mastodon about how difficult it was to rotate an image in iOS/iPadOS. I initially pointed out to him that it’s exactly the same in the Files app as it is in the Finder. That ended up evolving into a more extensive side-by-side comparison of Finder and Files.
Exactly. Besides that, people should not confuse a niche requirement with want people in general want and use. Is iPadOS perfect? No. Is the iPad the device that I love using the most? Yes, by far. I just hope Apple keeps improving it, and I think they will.
Indeed, which is why I said, “in principle.” It seems to me that Apple could decide that they have come up with a solution that makes their original opposition to a touch Mac moot. Obviously nothing in the article suggests Apple is considering a touch screen Mac, but the general principle of being flexible could apply. As I said, I have zero interest in a touch screen Mac but it will be interesting to see if Apple reconsiders its original position on the matter.
With that approach, you could also watch out for the next Apple:
Who knows, perhaps even a car!
The list of Apple pundits I once respected and now avoid has grown substantially over the last couple of years. I don’t know what the root cause is but they seem to get stuck on their single, personal issue and can’t look past it to what actually matters to broader users beyond their specific little pet niche.
I mourn the loss of Rene Ritchie to YouTube staff as he was one of the very few Apple commentators left that actually spoke for users.
Actually a lot of the problem is that folks want every Apple device to be for them despite the fact that the device that is actually already perfectly suited to their needs is a Mac. So logically they want all devices to be Macs and get bent out of shape when other devices forge ahead in their own niche and neglect to satisfy their own myopic desires.