Apple Touchscreen MacBook and Samsung Galaxy Buds On Play Catch-Up: Are Either Worth Buying?

Apple launched its first touchscreen MacBook Pro on 28 October and Samsung's Galaxy Buds On reach US shoppers in early November, yet both products chase rivals who sold the same ideas years earlier, forcing buyers to question every premium dollar.

The touchscreen MacBook Pro starts at $2,899 (£2,180) for the 14-inch model and $3,399 (£2,560) for the 16-inch version. The Galaxy Buds On reach the US at $229 (£172). Neither form factor is new, and that's the whole point.

The Touchscreen Mac Arrives a Decade Late

Apple fitted its new MacBook Pro with a PROLED XDR display, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and a hinge built to steady the screen. Windows laptops from Dell, HP, Lenovo, and ASUS have carried touchscreens since 2012, when Microsoft wrote the feature into Windows 8. Apple spent those years telling customers to buy an iPad.

The launch also reverses the position of Steve Jobs, who called vertical touch displays 'ergonomically terrible' at Apple's 2010 Mac event, warning that reaching for a laptop screen tires the arm. Apple now says its stabilised hinge addresses that worry.

What Apple's $2,899 Laptop Actually Offers

Buyers do get real hardware for the money. The PROLED XDR display reaches 2000 nits of peak brightness and a 10,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio, with up to 128GB of unified memory and up to 16TB of storage. A Dynamic Island cutout replaces the old notch.

The redesigned laptops sit well above the standard M6 MacBook Pro that Apple unveiled a day earlier at $1,999 (£1,500), so a chunk of the premium buys an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel and touch on top of the higher-tier M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.

Even so, the touchscreen is the main reason to pick this model over the cheaper one, and that single feature has shipped on cheap Windows machines for years.

Samsung's Clip-on Buds Join a Crowded Field

Samsung's first open-ear earbuds clip to the outer ear rather than resting in the canal. Each bud weighs 6.65 grams and runs up to 9.5 hours on a charge, or 38 hours with the case, over Bluetooth 6.2 with an IP54 splash rating. Samsung said it studied nearly 120 million ear data points during design.

The buds lean on an 11.3mm TwinBoost driver tuned for deeper bass, directional audio that reduces sound leakage, and head gestures that let wearers nod to accept a call or shake to decline.

But Huawei's FreeClip opened this category in December 2023, and Bose and Shokz followed with clip-on buds, while Sony offers open-ear alternatives. Samsung arrives late, at a price that matches its rivals rather than beating them.

Which Upgrade Is Worth Your Money

If you edit video or photos on a Mac and want OLED, the MacBook Pro may earn its price, though touchscreen is a perk rather than a reason to buy. Everyone else can keep a laptop or pick the cheaper M6 model. The Galaxy Buds On suit Samsung owners who want open-ear comfort, yet Huawei, Bose, and Shokz sell similar buds, sometimes for less. For most readers, both are skips.

Both giants are charging a premium for ideas the market already has, so the only question that matters is whether you need what they finally built.