One thing I don't think I quite realized until I looked through the the iFixit teardowns for the "Escape" MacBook Pro (has a physical escape key) and Touch Bar MacBook Pro (virtual escape; has Touch ID) is that these are two completely different boxes.
- The battery is bigger in the Escape/less expensive
- They have different motherboards entirely
- For the Touch Id, "Hanging off each end of the logic board, we find a small, modular USB-C board."
- The Escape has the USB-C ports attached to the mobo.
Here are some comparison pictures of the mobo in and out of the chassis.
I can't tell which would be worse, designing two completely different sets of innards for the same chassis, or simply neutering the cheaper one of two USB ports.
I mean, wouldn't've been cheaper to design one and remove one daughterboard (and whatever chips the Escape isn't using)? Guess not. Or the new MBP was a bigger design cluster than you'd've expected.