If seeing how the new Touch Bar of the new one works MacBook Pro, you've had deja vu thinking about iOS, well there's a very good reason for that. It seems that the Touch Bar in the new MacBook Pro works on the basis of a special version of watchOS, which is essentially an iOS specially designed for the Apple Watch since last year.
Apple has implemented in the new MacBook Pro a special T1 chip that secures fingerprints scanned by Touch ID, it works independently of macOS Sierra. This T1 chip also controls the Touch Bar at the same time, this component also working independently of the macOS operating system of the MacBook Pro.
In order to increase user security, the Apple company also connected the FaceTime camera of the new MacBook Pro to this new T1 chip, which is also controlled by watchOS. Basically, Apple uses this secure enclave chip to control three components of the MacBook Pro, which benefit from additional security, separate from macOS Sierra.
MacBook Pro Touch Bar runs iOS
Details regarding the new T1 chip used in the MacBook Pro do not exist, apart from what it controls, but we are probably talking about quite powerful hardware. It is hard to say if Apple uses a dual-core processor for it and at least 512 MB of RAM, but we will probably find out these details after the laptop is disassembled by experts.
It is quite unusual for Apple to use iOS and a special T1 chip in the new MacBook Pro, but this was probably the only way to provide additional security for users. Considering Apple's strategy, the camera of the new MacBook Pro will be almost impossible to access, and Touch ID is anyway impossible to break.
Having said that, this disclosure goes a long way in explaining the high cost of the new MacBook Pros compared to the standard models.
TL;DR Touch Bar runs watchOS, and macOS sends it framebuffer data over USB. This presumably then relays multitouch events back to macOS.
- Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 28, 2016
So this T1 chip is a standalone ARM device running its own variant of iOS, and managing the security of input devices (TouchID, camera, Bar)
- Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 28, 2016
All signs point to the front-facing camera on the rMBP also being gated/driven by watchOS running on the T1. For security! /via @KhaosT
- Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 28, 2016
Even Xcode & Instruments have Touch Bar layouts. Methinks the Mac software team have been sitting on this awaiting release for a long time? pic.twitter.com/o7oXdy8zgJ
- Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 28, 2016
