Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

[AlexESP]

One thing no computer company will never do is create a phone that can be docked to a keyboard and monitor, using the phone screen as the trackpad. Additional power, memory, graphics could be supplied by the dock. Storage could be in the dock or in the cloud.

What? Many companies have tried this. But it has always failed, because even if in theory it sounds like a great idea, in practice it’s a poor experience. In those use cases, you have a much better device for what you’re trying to do — a laptop or desktop.

No one wants to connect a cable, use a wobbling screen as trackpad, have an overheating phone, etc.

 

[lotones]

ASi started way before the time period I'm talking about.

The A4 chip powered the iPhone 4, which released in 2010

It actually released before you joined MacRumors!
Yes ... that long ago!

um... oKay? Thanks for the quick history lesson, but the topic was specifically Macs, and your declaration that TC's "not a Mac guy. He never has been.", which is not historically supported.

Besides TC's job is not to be a "Mac guy". His job is to be an "Apple guy", which means being a lot more than just a "Mac guy".

 

[lotones]

Simple.
The "fuss" is that you're exact preferences aren't everyone else's.

That should be obvious.

Bears repeating.

 

[bigbaba]

This is in the same league as Apple’s AI fumble. Apple literally pioneered the dock with the PowerBook Duo. You want docked mode with an Apple silicon iPad? Go buy the Magic Keyboard. You want touch? Don’t use the keyboard. Have the OS switch based on whether it’s docked or not.

Make this a pro feature level only and you have the best of every world.

 

[JRozgonyi]

For years now I’ve been following the back-and-forth arguments about the iPad’s operating system and whether or not it’s “adequate” or not. Frankly, this seems to me that it’s more of a political argument than a technical one. I am a heavy iPad user—in fact, it’s the device that I do about 99% of my work on. I’m a high-level college administrator as well as a faculty member, and I oversee and manage my institution’s teaching and learning center. Other than an issue with printing (the fault of our campus’s setup and not any device), I do everything on my iPad, every day. And I don’t want my iPad to operate like a MacBook.

What puzzles me about these arguments is that people who clearly want to use a MacBook keep talking down the iPad and the simplicity of its operating system—the very simplicity that is exactly what draws some of us to prefer it. So if you don’t like what the iPad can’t do, use a MacBook. If you’re happy with what the iPad does, use your iPad. The argument strikes me a bit like a Formula 1 race driving criticizing a grandmother for wanting to drive her old Honda Fit to church on Sunday. There are different tools for different people with different needs—let individuals decide and don’t criticize them and their choices because yours are different.

 

[Cervisia]

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

Make them sell a macbook under a kilogramm, then I'll stop wanting macos on ipads.

 

[seek3r]

I wish they’d just open up the native hardware virtualization support in iOS, that would probably solve all the problems for folks, like me, who’d love a real desktop environment when docked. I would just spin up a vm. UTM is dog slow without access to the hardware.

 

[Cervisia]

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.

But without macs they won't have any apps to sell in their app store..

 

[breenmask]

Make them sell a macbook under a kilogramm, then I'll stop wanting macos on ipads.

iPad with Magic Keyboard is more than a kg.

iPad without Magic Keyboard is less than a kg but isn't all that productive, essentially making macOS features useless on a tablet.

 

[seek3r]

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.

Hard disagree, the reason macs languished in the mid 2010s is because Jobs was no longer around to check Ives worst impulses, and form overtook function

the machines became too thin for the hardware to cool off, the keyboards became too thin to function reliably, design elements that were pretty but not super useful, like touchbar, appeared, etc

When Ives was basically forced out Cook revitalized macs, there’s a reason the ARM MBPs are thicker than the Intel ones they replaced (with a cooler running chip mind you) for example.

Also, just in general, Apple Silicon has been awesome, rock solid, and that happened under Cook

 

[Cervisia]

iPad with Magic Keyboard is more than a kg.

iPad without Magic Keyboard is less than a kg but isn't all that productive, essentially making macOS features useless on a tablet.

Magic Keyboard is a design disaster. Logitech Combo Touch weights 474g for the 11" model.

 

[seek3r]

Magic Keyboard is a design disaster. Logitech Combo Touch weights 474g for the 11" model.

Personally I love it, flip it up, pop off the ipad for table use, slap it back on for light laptop type use, really the only thing I wish was different is that the usb port on the kb handled data and not just charging

To each their own 🤷‍♂️

 

[eveluvsrainbows]

ASi started way before the time period I'm talking about.

The A4 chip powered the iPhone 4, which released in 2010

It actually released before you joined MacRumors!
Yes ... that long ago!

They are talking about the M-series chips, which first came out in 2020. And they have a point. If Tim Cook didn't care about the Mac, why did he allocate so many resources to developing dedicated Mac chips?

 

[Cervisia]

Personally I love it, flip it up, pop off the ipad for table use, slap it back on for light laptop type use, really the only thing I wish was different is that the usb port on the kb handled data and not just charging

To each their own 🤷‍♂️

I have to correct myself, the ipad pro + magic keyboard is a design disaster, together. The ipad has the camera bump, making almost impossible, but at least a very bad experience writing on it with the pencil without a back cover. Which supposed to be one of the main selling points. And since the Magic Keyboard doesn't have a detachable back panel, and the keyboard can't fold back, one has to carry another cover if wants to write on the ipad. All this just to bump up the specs of a camera almost nobody uses.

 

[ifxf]

Can’t have ipad apps paging and swapping, users might like Safari remembering its side panel settings across app usage.

 

[seek3r]

I have to correct myself, the ipad pro + magic keyboard is a design disaster, together. The ipad has the camera bump, making almost impossible, but at least a very bad experience writing on it with the pencil without a back cover. Which supposed to be one of the main selling points. And since the Magic Keyboard doesn't have a detachable back panel, and the keyboard can't fold back, one has to carry another cover if wants to write on the ipad. All this just to bump up the specs of a camera almost nobody uses.

That makes sense, I have an air, nowhere near the same level of problem there

 

[HighwaySnowman]

I feel like the real reason is Apple regards macOS as legacy software so they wouldn't put it in something new. They haven't figured out a way to kill the Mac and macOS without a significant backlash.

Kill macOS and that's the day I'm done with Apple. I'll spend the next year switching ALL of my clients to Linux-based solutions, and I'll make a decent amount of money doing it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Kill macOS and that's the day I'm done with Apple. I'll spend the next year switching ALL of my clients to Linux-based solutions, and I'll make a decent amount of money doing it.

Same. If it ever gets to "fake macOS" built from iPadOS, I'm out.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I'll admit ... I laughed

 

[breenmask]

Magic Keyboard is a design disaster. Logitech Combo Touch weights 474g for the 11" model.

Logitech Combo Touch is less useful. Hard to use on lap as the kickstand often closes. Using it as just an iPad is added weight due to the cover even after detaching it. Limited angle adjustments.

You're sacrificing the tablet experience for the sake of keyboard experience. All to save a 100-200 grams of weight.

 

[dubiousgif]

No they wouldn't? The App Store on macOS is actually growing in popularity, but also killing off iPadOS in favour of macOS would also kill all of the apps engineered and built specifically for the iPad and, in turn, iPadOS.

They wouldn’t just kill off iPadOS without integrating its strengths into macOS for iPad. All the iPad apps would still work. As someone else mentioned, Apple Silicon Macs can already run some iPad apps.

 

[xSushi]

Can the iPad be used as a monitor for a Mac mini?

 

[hans1972]

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.

As long as it's Apple who gets the money and not developers, I'm happy.

People who don't want to spend a large amount of money being an Apple customer are most likely to be unhappy customers.

 

[eifelbube]

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. 🤦‍♂️

It is not that black and white, either/or for some/many()? of us. I have a Mac mini, an MBP, and an iPad Pro 12”. When i am away from the “base”, sometimes i just need the iPad and its touch screen. At other times i slide into tbe magic keyboard sleeve and wished i could use it like a Mac. Sometimes, i need my MBP and a second display screen, so i take both. If tbe iPadOS can be Mac-like, why not? So, i welcome iPadOS 26. I just like freaking flexbility 😊

 

[hans1972]

how about all the other things , being able to install a software from anywhere, with or without sandboxing , as well as many features not related to touch/non touch ?

Almost all other operating systems supports this. Just get a different device with a different OS.