Craig Federighi Explains Why Apple Won't Merge iPad and Mac: 'We Don't Want to Build Sporks'

[darngooddesign]

Claiming the iPad multitasking is something that they "needed to keep experimenting with" is the ultimate flop of a PR statement. The truth is they didn't want to canibalize Mac sales. Until now for whatever reason.

Apple kept experimenting with Splitscreen for like four years until the final best version allowed you to add apps from anywhere. If Apple were really worried about canibalizing Mac sales they wouldn't have done Stage Manager in the first place.

 

[Le Big Mac]

Personally I'm looking forward to an Apple Spork, but hte price better be $199 or less. They'll sell like hotcakes!

 

[dugbug]

I appreciate their viewpoint. The ipad has a lot of simplicity baked in... but the window management upgrade was really needed.

 

[needsomecoffee]

Sadly I do not care anymore. Used to care. Have an iPad. Have an iPhone. Have a MacBook Pro. Have Unbuntu running on an older ThinkPad Yoga. Only really care about Linux's dev path now. Apple is lost. Tim, Eddie, Craig, "Joz", JohnT, Jeff...** Man they are tired old group of wealthy white guys, and it appears the next CEO will come from this club.

** At least JohnG sorta got the shaft, and we will see what new blood might accomplish re: Siri.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Ready to see how my budget ($199) iPad 9th Gen and its 3GB of DRAM fare with iPadOS 26 multitasking.

 

[Macalway]

yeah sure. Windows is, (what did he call it?) and has been from the beginning, and look what a disaster that is. Lenovo, MS, and countless others will contest to this failure, in spite of tremendous sales. Btw, the new Surface Pro 12" sort of reminds me of my iPad. It's actually very nice (Overpriced, yes. You see, THEY learn from the competition )

 

[WarmWinterHat]

It's possible they'll lock down macOS in the same way as iOS once it's all Apple Silicon.

..and it's probable I'll leave the ecosystem for good if that happens.

They aren't going to do that with the Mac, and with the way governments and courts are going, they might be doing it with iPad and iPhone much longer, either.

 

[GMShadow]

I also recall apple using the same BS line when stage manager was released and magically they were able to make it work on older iPad Pros after people went nuts.

They made a limited version work on one generation, not the full thing. RAM constraints were a real reason for the restriction.

 

[TechWhisperer]

I agree with him. iPad Pro is my fav device, working on it is so much more fun than my 16 inch MBP. Don’t ruin the iPad trying to get it mixed up with mac. Identity crisis isn’t good.

Me too. It’s a great device and OS. Happy that they finally gave the iPad the love it deserves.

 

[HMI]

But I like sporks!

 

[brownpaw]

If I hook up a keyboard and mouse to an iPad, that has the same basic internals as a MacBook, I should be able to use it like a MacBook. This wasn’t always true with architectural differences but it’s true now.

Also ffs if nothing else, give us a multiuser iPad experience.

 

[russell_314]

If I hook up a keyboard and mouse to an iPad, that has the same basic internals as a MacBook, I should be able to use it like a MacBook. This wasn’t always true with architectural differences but it’s true now.

Also ffs if nothing else, give us a multiuser iPad experience.

And this is called just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it. Apple is smart enough to know this.

I also agree that the iPad needs better window management. Just not macOS. It needs to be its own thing

 

[J.J. Sefton]

Personally I'm looking forward to an Apple Spork, but hte price better be $199 or less. They'll sell like hotcakes!

79.99 for the handle option!!!

 

[neuropsychguy]

More importantly... stop trying to ruin the Mac by turning it into an iPad! Some of us use them for real work.

Good thing Apple isn't. They bring in some iPadOS elements for visual continuity, but it's clear that Apple is very much keeping the Mac separate from the iPad. I've done significant command line work on Macs for years and tons of scientific computing. While some of the scientific computing in my field took a hit with the switch to Apple Silicon, it's picked back up and is further now than it was before because of the benefits of Apple's unified memory architecture.

Rather than being "dumbed down", macOS is as full-featured (or more so) than it ever was. But that's just my observation based on more than 40 years of using Macs.

 

[darngooddesign]

apple may want to make mac os app store only to get that 30%

They won't.

 

[kiranmk2]

Poor Criag. Apple chose him to be in front of the firing squad for all of Apple's screwups the last couple years.

Claiming the iPad multitasking is something that they "needed to keep experimenting with" is the ultimate flop of a PR statement. The truth is they didn't want to canibalize Mac sales. Until now for whatever reason.

But now they are bringing full multitasking to the lowest end iPads....which completely contradicts that. Kinda seems like Apple is getting desperate to just sell any product they can.

All these years and all these excuses and now the $329 iPad runs full multitasking....yet a 2 year old iPhone "can't run" Apple Intelligence .


I also recall apple using the same BS line when stage manager was released and magically they were able to make it work on older iPad Pros after people went nuts.

Apple seems ...really really lost. I hope they find their way and get back on track.

Also Joz has become like this arrogant, evil big brother who looks like he was about to slap Craig if he didn't say the right thing or spin a question properly during all these interviews.

Have Apple just admitted that the various implementations of multitasking Apple have added to iPadOS previously (the swipe-up dock, slide over, split view and stage manager) weren't fully thought through and were just experiments?

It seems fairly clear to me that it would be reletively easy for an iPad to offer a MacOS option, even if was only available when connected to the Magic keyboard or a display as well as an iPadOS mode (e.g. when in tablet form), but this would likely result in fewer people buying a Mac and iPad.

 

[racerhomie]

Agreed. I am sticking to the Full screen experience with Split screen and Slide over

 

[russell_314]

Good thing Apple isn't. They bring in some iPadOS elements for visual continuity, but it's clear that Apple is very much keeping the Mac separate from the iPad.

The iPhone/ iPad settings on the Mac would like to disagree. It’s more than just visual. It’s an annoying touch based interface on a non touch device. It reminds me of Windows 8… Maybe not that bad but not great either.

 

[Granville]

It's pretty clear most people want macOS on their ipad.
ipadOS is just outdated, it's struggling with so many basic functions and while version 26 fixes a lot, it still laggs powerfull apps so it can become a ONE machine for all.

That said, they will not do it, they know it would be a much better machine, but it would kill their profits AND 30% app revenue profits

 

[OafTobark]

but, have you ever used a spork?

although not common, and ultimately utilized by the restaurant business to help overhead - the 2n1 utility of a spork is unmatched.

scoop or poke, it's for you.

 

[sledgehammer89]

Just give us this Mac: fanless, without a notch, 120hz, replaceable keyboard and hinge (if one of them break) and at least an optional dust-proof keyboard - like Smart Keyboard Folio. Then I'll never think about iPad became a Mac. iPad Pro M4 is right now the better Mac hardware.

 

[Ctrlos]

It also turns out a folding spoon is still a spoon as well.

 

[platinumaqua]

I have said this before, but Apple obviously sees the iPad as the future and Mac as the past. They've already ruined macOS by borrowing from iPadOS and that is not stopping anytime soon. They're either trying to create a "spork" on the macOS platform, or they're going the long game to merge Mac OS into iPad or discontinuing Mac/macOS entirely.

 

[NightfallOrchid]

It's pretty clear most people want macOS on their ipad.
ipadOS is just outdated, it's struggling with so many basic functions and while version 26 fixes a lot, it still laggs powerfull apps so it can become a ONE machine for all.

That said, they will not do it, they know it would be a much better machine, but it would kill their profits AND 30% app revenue profits

I know plenty of people, myself included, who have an iPad, yet not a single one ever asked for macOS on their iPad. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the MacRumors echo chamber is representative of the majority of people.

 

[starlabjump]

First, separate the M-chip iPads from the A-chip iPads.

Then, leave the A-chip iPads unchanged and either replace the MacBook Airs with M-chip iPads, or treat the M-chip iPads as touch-enabled MacBook Airs.