Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

[MacRumors]

iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why.

In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like features strike a good balance between productivity and simplicity. He added that macOS is not optimized for touch-screens, although rumors suggest that might change one day.

"We want to retain all the simplicity of the iPad, but still allow iPad users who want to go deeper and further to push it at their own pace to doing more," said Federighi, in a sit-down interview at Apple Park's podcast studio. "I think with macOS, you'd lose what makes iPad iPad, which is the ultimate touch device. But there are lots of things the two platforms can learn from one another, and that's where we've adapted our best ideas to each."

The quote above is only a portion of Federighi's answer, with the full interview available below.

For those who are still looking for a true iPad and Mac hybrid, Apple is reportedly working on everything from touch-screen Macs to a 19-inch foldable iPad, so the dream of using macOS on a touch-screen might be just a few years away.

Article Link: Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

 

[dubiousgif]

They’d lose App Store revenue.

 

[turbineseaplane]

We know the rea$on$

This has all become so ridiculous, particularly as they now try to "build macOS all over again, starting with iPadOS" all while adding more and more "padding" to the entire macOS UI, despite it not having any touch capable devices that run it.

 

[mattopotamus]

After using the new ipad OS, I have to agree. I actually find that it works much better with a keyboard and trackpad, but it a little more rough with touch. I'll probably use full screen apps when not docked to a keyboard.

 

[breenmask]

GOOD. The iPad should NEVER run a Mac. It's a ridiculously stupid idea. Touch first devices should run touch first operating systems.

Those who want a Mac on an iPad should just buy a freaking Mac. 🤦‍♂️

 

[JPack]

Apple sells it as a complete, customized solution for the best experience.

It's the same reason Apple TV doesn't run macOS. Fundamentally, it's the same box as a Mac with HDMI out.

 

[Kottu]

They could have released the features like iPadOS 26 ages ago. It is not an argument to provide such an able chip and make it just an oversized iPhone. They are now opening up as competitors are launching highly capable pads. Myself, I use an average iPad, while my friend has Samsung. To be honest, that machine had everything the average user would need in the box. Apple likes to make users purchase the ability to do the same that Samsung provides for free of cost.

 

[Zaft]

I guess it’s good for people who want a hybrid device. But I feel like if you need to have a device that’s for work and editing, then just get a MacBook.

 

[breenmask]

They are now opening up as competitors are launching highly capable pads.

iPad has never had real competition. Maybe Apple was worried about the surface at one point but they sure aren't looking at Microsoft anymore.

 

[AusMness]

Crazy it took an official statement from Apple to make that known

 

[Royksöpp]

They’d lose App Store revenue.

They really wouldn’t. There are still plenty of apps that are iOS only. What the iPad truly needs now is a proper Finder and support for full desktop class apps. If anything, adding these features would likely boost sales, people could start using the iPad as their all-in-one device, which would, in turn, open up the App Store to a wider user base.

 

[SnowPenguin]

So they want to retain the simplicity? Fine I guess, but that doesn’t explain why they were slow to add some of these capabilities for years.

 

[Scott6666]

They could have released the features like iPadOS 26 ages ago. It is not an argument to provide such an able chip and make it just an oversized iPhone. They are now opening up as competitors are launching highly capable pads. Myself, I use an average iPad, while my friend has Samsung. To be honest, that machine had everything the average user would need in the box. Apple likes to make users purchase the ability to do the same that Samsung provides for free of cost.

Don’t think until recently the processor could handle it.

 

[wonderings]

I get the reasoning, but they are selling keyboards and mice for the iPad. You can also plug the iPad into an external screen so it is a computer with a touch screen. I get that MacOS is not optimized for touch, but who cares you can use it with a keyboard and mouse like normal. The reason is it would kill a large portion of their laptop sales. So many people could get by with a simple iPad, they are fast, long battery and will/would do what any average user would need it to do.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Craig Federighi, gesturing and talking down to this poor man like he's from another planet

 

[turbineseaplane]

While we continue to do this dance, about about releasing some Cellular MacBooks?

 

[mattopotamus]

I get the reasoning, but they are selling keyboards and mice for the iPad. You can also plug the iPad into an external screen so it is a computer with a touch screen. I get that MacOS is not optimized for touch, but who cares you can use it with a keyboard and mouse like normal. The reason is it would kill a large portion of their laptop sales. So many people could get by with a simple iPad, they are fast, long battery and will/would do what any average user would need it to do.

Yup. Realistically, Apple could put MacOS on the iphone and have it work that way if connected to an external display, but they are not trying to wipe out their product lines.

 

[goonie4life9]

Hair Force One forgot one more thing: iPad runs OS X!!!

 

[SnowPenguin]

Don’t think until recently the processor could handle it.

I am pretty sure the M1 was capable of it since 2021

 

[phuklok1]

since it’s the same hardware at this point i would like the option of dual booting, like boot camp so when at a desk i have full macos and still be able to use the device as an ipad when i need that.

let both os’s keeps their core strengths, but let me decide how to use the hardware. at keast the ipad pro should have this option, that would give it a real selling point, though all of them could definitely run this way.

 

[nt5672]

GOOD. The iPad should NEVER run a Mac. It's a ridiculously stupid idea. Touch first devices should run touch first operating systems.

Those who want a Mac on an iPad should just buy a freaking Mac. 🤦‍♂️

The problem with this logic is that Apple is eventually going to stop making the Mac. They want everyone in the walled garden so they can wring all of the $$$ possible out of Mac users.

 

[turbineseaplane]

since it’s the same hardware at this point i would like the option of dual booting, like boot camp so when at a desk i have full macos and still be able to use the device as an ipad when i need that.

let both os’s keeps their core strengths, but let me decide how to use the hardware. at keast the ipad pro should have this option, that would give it a real selling point.

It'd be a smart way to actually distinguish between the normal vs Pro iPad line

 

[xDeadTechx]

While we continue to do this dance, about about releasing some Cellular MacBooks?

I'm sure that's coming, Apple historically wants to control the entire stack within their products and everyone knows the relationship they had with modem providers (Intel, Qualcomm) they absolutely hated.

I'm thinking they threw in the C1 into the 16e just to test to get feedback, monitor statistics etc and going to use that feedback and lessons learned and maybe 3 or 4 years down the road shove an evolution of that chip into the MacBooks..

 

[turbineseaplane]

The problem with this logic is that Apple is eventually going to stop making the Mac. They want everyone in the walled garden so they can wring all of the $$$ possible out of Mac users.

It's been the Tim Cook dream for about a decade now.

The reason the Mac had that languishing in the mid 2010's was because Tim was hoping to do it back then.

He's not a Mac guy. He never has been.

 

[gwscoll]

They could have released the features like iPadOS 26 ages ago. It is not an argument to provide such an able chip and make it just an oversized iPhone. They are now opening up as competitors are launching highly capable pads. Myself, I use an average iPad, while my friend has Samsung. To be honest, that machine had everything the average user would need in the box. Apple likes to make users purchase the ability to do the same that Samsung provides for free of cost.

Is it not a free update?