iPadOS 26 strikes iPad nearer to Mac than ever earlier than. However don’t take it as a stepping stone towards an eventual unification between iPadOS and macOS. That’s clearly not going to occur.
The explanation will be summed up with a phrase that Craig Federighi, Apple’s head of software program improvement, utilized in an interview at WWDC this week: “iPad’s gonna be iPad.”
iPad will get extra Mac-like as processors enhance
Again in 2010, iPad was primarily an iPhone with a really massive display. Its processor was flatly insufficient to have a number of functions operating facet by facet. However as time went on, the tablets bought extra highly effective, and new multitasking options had been added.
These constructed up step by step. First there was Break up View and Slide Over in 2015, adopted by the extra strong Stage Supervisor in 2022. And now iPadOS 26 makes enormous strides towards making iPad extra Mac-like.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of software program engineering, advised Ars Technica, “Over time the iPad’s gotten extra highly effective, the screens have gotten bigger, the consumer base has shifted right into a mode the place there’s a little bit extra trackpad and keyboard use in how many individuals use the gadget. And so the celebrities type of aligned to the place lots of the issues that you simply historically do with a Mac had been attainable to do on an iPad for the primary time.”
‘iPad’s gonna be iPad’
However additional feedback by Federighi make it clear that the modifications in iPadOS 26 don’t imply that Apple plans to place macOS on iPad. Solely Mac options that work nicely on a touchscreen make the leap.
“We’ve regarded and mentioned, as [iPad and Mac] come collectively, the place on the iPad the Mac idiom for doing one thing, like the place we put the window shut controls and maximize controls, what colour are they — we’ve mentioned, ‘why not, the place it is smart, use a converged design for these issues so it’s acquainted and comfy,’” Federighi mentioned to Ars Technica. “However the place it doesn’t make sense, iPad’s gonna be iPad.”
iPad is a touch-first gadget; Mac just isn’t
Throughout the interview, the Apple govt additionally mentioned, “The iPad is a direct manipulation touch-first gadget.”
The folks urging Apple to place macOS on its tablets ignore the truth that the Mac working system isn’t designed for contact. It’s made to be managed with a trackpad/mouse and a keyboard. A signifiant redesign can be mandatory to stop customers from getting very pissed off. And that redesign may simply irritate these not enthusiastic about a Mac with a touchscreen.
Past that, Apple intends iPad to be simpler to make use of than Mac. To perform that, lots of the superior macOS options wanted solely by professional-level customers are stripped out, and common customers prefer it that approach. That differentiation can be misplaced if the pill ran macOS.
Anybody making an attempt to argue that an iPad operating macOS can be vastly extra in style ought to take into account that Apple bought about 57 million iPads operating iPadOS in 2024, versus 23 million Macs bought in the identical time interval. The corporate must be cautious to not make modifications that will make iPad much less in style.
