Apple's Greg Joswiak: No Plans to Merge Mac and iPad

[Freida]

Jobs said it in completely different context. I hate when people use this nonsense as something of value.

I'm also glad that they are not merging them as that would be stupid.

Some people will of course want a fridge with a toaster and built in tv and a printer.

if anything, in the future computers MIGHT most likely take the direction of tablets and the trend will change the way we use computers today and will move it towards tablet style computer. That, however, doesn't mean merging iPad and Mac though.

Remember when Jobs said there will never be a stylus for an iPad? Yeah, iPads will have to run mac apps to be a real computer. They’ll realize it sooner or later.

 

[farewelwilliams]

THIS! They are doing it for us - so we have to buy as much stuff as possible, if we like the input methods of both platforms...

No. If that were true, they would have removed the music app from the first iPhone and forced users to continue buying iPods.

 

[0924487]

Remember when Jobs said there will never be a stylus for an iPad? Yeah, iPads will have to run mac apps to be a real computer. They’ll realize it sooner or later.

It’s a real tablet computer. Why do you want it to be a Mac? What do you do with your Mac if the iPad is a Mac?

 

[rgarjr]

guess you haven't heard of the magic keyboard which literally makes an ipad have the exact same input hardware.

Yep, at first I was like.. how the heck you're going to run Big Sur (MacOS) without a keyboard and mouse/trackpad since it's not touch screen friendly? The magic keyboard will solve that quick.

 

[mansplains]

I don't understand the use case for an iPad if you have a portable Mac but for content consumption. As an owner of multiple iPad Pros over the years I've gotten rid of them because I can't justify the price or hardware for what I realistically used them for. If you're developing I could see the screen being handy for testing your interfaces etc but you're typing code on a keyboard, not using the touch screen for the actual pro part. FCPX or LPX on iPad only for it to be portable? Just use a MBP, the touch input isn't a crazy benefit, especially when you consider audio recording and amplification on the LPX end. The touch input with pencil is solid for drawing or graphics manipulation, I used Affinity and Adobe but found my iMac to be better for both and I didn't need it to be portable.

 

[Realityck]

I think in the future a Mac won't even be necessary. It'll just be the tablet on its own, and then when you attach it to the magic keyboard (or a docking station with a regular monitor/keyboard), the UI elements will automatically re-size and it'll be just like working on a Mac. They're working toward a future where there is no distinction between Mac and iPad, but if they say that today, too many heads will explode.

Perhaps it won't be even a tablet, it will be your watch with 1.5 nm process Apple CPU that brings up a projection of some future interface that you can interact with. Will make AR old.

Specifically, the industry is pinpointing and narrowing down the transistor options for the next major nodes after 3nm. Those two nodes, called 2.5nm and 1.5nm, are slated to appear in 2027 and 2030, respectively, according to the International Technology Roadmap Semiconductors (ITRS) version 2.0.

 

[now i see it]

"We're quite proud of the fact that we have forced the customer to buy yet another device"

 

[Bearygoodfries1]

Oh? Then why does every new version of macOS get dumbed down further and further to behave more like iOS? To the point where features are taken away from macOS to make it have feature parity with iOS, and features of iOS are added to macOS.

I’m still bummed about what they did with Pages. I used to prefer it over Microsoft Word, but then they made it too similar to the iPad version and it just wasn’t that great anymore.

 

[0924487]

This is a mistake imo - why bridge the gap with an M1 if you can't utilize both MacOS and iPadOS? They both offer different experiences but meet the needs at different times.

So annoying

Just buy two, don’t cheap on it.

 

[sparkinstx]

Ford Bronco!

 

[munpip214]

Just want to use my ipad with multiple users!

 

[Bluetoot-]

This is an artificial divide, honestly. They are literally the same machines now. My MacBook Air is an iPad without the touch screen.

 

[jonblatho]

Remember when Jobs said there will never be a stylus for an iPad?

I don’t recall him saying that there will never be a stylus for an iPad. Can you direct me to that quote?

 

[dannys1]

Merge no...make a device that can run both OS depending on the current setup....yes for the love of god please. The Magic Keyboard has shown how good this could be. Attach a magic keyboard it becomes MacOS, no keyboard or trackpad, good ole iOS. That justify that $300+ keyboard more.

But also no. Then you have a Mac device with a screen covered in fingerprints that doesn't have input as good as a MacBook does.

How on earth are you managing software on this? People complain Mac devices don't have enough ports as it is...now you've got one - and you need it to charge.

How is the SSD partitioned to handle both OSes? How big does it now have to be? How does it seamlessly swap between both systems, does it dedupe data? Does it have a data partitation, even if you did UB apps for both OS's you'd still have a nightmare then managing them between the two OS, they can't just blend between each other or run as a layer on top of the other one.

What you'd end up with us a comprimised device in both respects and there's literally only one reason anyone would ever ask for this - they can't afford both devices, because it sure as hell is going to manage handling the data between devices any easier.

 

[James Godfrey]

It will never happen, if the iPad had macOS on it, there would literally be no point in the MacBook Air, if MacOS came to the iPad Pro at WWDC, the Air would be discontinued soon after.

If MacOS came to the iPad Pro it will have many many many advantages over a MacBook Air.... slimmer, more portable, better screen, ability to touch, pencil support, cellular options...

From a business perspective this makes absolutely no sense, why destroy the sales of your best selling laptop, the iPad is merely an extension of macOS to use on the go... no more no less (yes some people can use the iPad as laptop replacement now, M1 simply makes it even more useful for this purpose allowing the seamless use of power hungry apps like final cut etc...

Is the iPad over powered... yes it is... should more developers take advantage of this extra headroom... definitely... will they... who knows... but with it now being powered by the M1 with up to 16GB of RAM, it’s more likely than ever.

 

[ImaginaryNerve]

I doubt they'll merge, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start blurring the lines between the MacBooks and the iPads.

Personally, I do like that they're separate. There are some specific use cases where I prefer an iPad and some where I prefer my MacBook Pro. I went like six years with my only mobile device (aside from my iPhone) being an iPad (and later SP7) and while there are products to make the iPad more Laptop-esque, at the end of the day its still an iPad.

One of the things I hated the most about using the SP7 or the ASUS Convertible laptop I occasionally borrowed from my partner was that neither felt like they excelled at being either device. The SP7 felt like a cheap imitation of a tablet and a poorly designed laptop with the keyboard case. I was constantly fretting about whether or not I was holding it right or using it in the correct position. The ASUS Convertible had a sub-par touch screen in tablet mode and the keyboard folds around to the back and felt mushy because of the exposed keys.

I'm not sure merging the two into a similar-styled physical device is something we'll see, but I can see both styles of products kind of blurring the lines on a software level and indeed we've been seeing as such with the adoption of the M1 chip and iOS apps on macOS.

I can kind of see an evolution of a product-line go something like iPhone -> iPad (bigger iPhone) -> iPad Pro (laptop power, tablet form factor and software) -> MBA (laptop power with iOS compatibility but full OS software) -> MBP (full laptop) -> iMac (All-in-One) -> iMac Pro or Mac Pro.

All that said, though...Apple's denied things out right that they ended up doing a few years later before, so really, it truly is anyone's guess to what their 5-year plan is.

 

[rp2011]

I love my iPad Pro and want it to be as powerful as possible. But I agree that they don’t have to merge. We just need a more capable iPad OS.

 

[dannys1]

Remember when Jobs said there will never be a stylus for an iPad?

Nope he never said anything of the sort - he was talking about phone and his point was the iPhone has a multi-touch screen so precise you could control it with your fingers, other older devices still had resistive touch screens which had no accuracy so you'd need some kind of short stubby stylus to accurately select things. He was using the iPhone and said "if it needs a stylus, you've failed".

But good way to totally bend the quote incorrectly.

 

[0924487]

I don't understand the use case for an iPad if you have a portable Mac but for content consumption. As an owner of multiple iPad Pros over the years I've gotten rid of them because I can't justify the price or hardware for what I realistically used them for. If you're developing I could see the screen being handy for testing your interfaces etc but you're typing code on a keyboard, not using the touch screen for the actual pro part. FCPX or LPX on iPad only for it to be portable? Just use a MBP, the touch input isn't a crazy benefit, especially when you consider audio recording and amplification on the LPX end. The touch input with pencil is solid for drawing or graphics manipulation, I used Affinity and Adobe but found my iMac to be better for both and I didn't need it to be portable.

Taking notes, doing assignments, writing exams, reading papers, scribbling formulas, drawing diagrams, etc. You need a stylus input with a big screen. In STEM, typing notes is very difficult because you can’t easily type triple-level styled Greek letters with subscripts, superscripts, hats, fast enough

 

[0924487]

I just got idea for Apple. When iPad Pro has M1 as well now, hey Apple, what about make iPad working as eGPU for Mac and vise versa over thunderbolt?

Probably not gonna happen, they will not over engineer something to save you from needing to buy something else, like an e-GPU.

 

[dannys1]

Oh? Then why does every new version of macOS get dumbed down further and further to behave more like iOS? To the point where features are taken away from macOS to make it have feature parity with iOS, and features of iOS are added to macOS.

I'm sorry, exactly what features have been "taken away" from macOS...i'd love to hear this.

 

[Seanm87]

If you put an M1 in it you'd better make the software take advantage of it. Hopefully ipados15 is where the iPad FINALLY does everything a Mac can do.

 

[Realityck]

This is an artificial divide, honestly. They are literally the same machines now. My MacBook Air is an iPad without the touch screen.

You really need a way larger screen to contend with. Then they won't seem like the same devices.

 

[notabadname]

I’m OK with this logic. Just because you are making the best “tablet” you can, doesn’t mean it has to be limited because it is becoming too similar to the laptop offering. I prefer this route over the iPad being forever tied to a mobile processor. I do a lot of creative work for my job on my iPad, and find its abilities to edit photos with Photoshop, and edit quality video content very beneficial. If i need something more, I can pass it to my MBP. But the portability of the iPad is tough to beat. You can still leave it in a seatback on an aircraft (unlike a laptop) and have it out on your lap for landing even. The M1 chip will just allow better and more powerful Apps for it, especially for the very mobile Photoshop user.

 

[Radeon85]

Now that the iPad Pro uses the M1 chip as well, has a pretty nice amount of RAM and a thunderbolt port, what's the bloody point of the Macbook Air, the only thing that makes it different now is the OS at this point. They may as well scrap the Air or give the consumer the option to even allow a dual boot of running iPad OS or Mac OS on the iPad Pro only.

The M1 Air is now a joke, the iPad Pro can have double the RAM (16GB), up to 2TB of storage, better screen, 5G on the go and the iPad Pro even has a better GPU than the base M1 Air ?