So I've kind of been circling this question in recent weeks and I'd be really interested to know what others thought. Today I watched a video by Noah Hermann on YouTube in which he says 'Apple wants you to buy both a Mac and an iPad' and this really led me to pause and reflect on this.
I haven't used 26 yet, but I'm impressed by what I've seen of it. For a bit of context, I've not used a Mac since late 2019 when I got an iPad Pro. I had been resigning myself to the fact I might need to leave the iPad, but 26 has certainly drawn me back in. Having said that this question has kept coming to me. I think we can try all we want with devices to use them how we want to, but at the end of the day we are subject to the manufacturer's idea for the product and how it fits with their other products - naturally. As impressed by 26 as I am, I'm still not that convinced that Apple is truly ok with people just using an iPad as their only computer.
A lot of great tech journalists I follow like Frederico Viticci and Chris Lawley have long wanted their iPads to be their computers, but I'm kind of not sure they're the kind of people who should be able to just use an iPad. I think both now need and seemingly derive a lot of value from features that probably should be the reserve of the Mac. Them and fellow Apple bloggers often experiment with menu bar apps, local AI tools, scripts, coding etc. which I think indicates that their curiosity and propensity to tweak and optimise is not and probably cannot sensibly be met by the iPad. For these people, the iPad probably makes more sense to be a secondary computer. Sure the iPad should get more and more powerful so that they can do more of their work on the go, but I think these sorts of people will always need a Mac at home where they can finish projects or really get stuck into the nitty gritty of something.
I think there are other types of people for whom the same is probably true. I'd say a serious graphic designer gets great value out of an iPad Pro and a pencil, but that they probably need to finish a project on a Mac. I'd say the same is true of video editors, coders, architects, photographers, those kinds of people. I think it's absolutely fine that Apple tries to sell these sorts of people two computers, the iPad and the Mac.
I think for the rest of us though (the majority), iPads can, now, do everything we need them to do in a way that makes sense - I think 'in a way that makes sense' has come with 26. If tech bloggers are 'pro' users, maybe the rest of us can be 'serious' users? I think pro users will always need both a Mac and iPad, but for serious users, the iPad is sufficient. I'm here thinking of so-called knowledge workers who write and edit text and communicate as the core functions of their work.
I think some sort of new 'What's a computer?' style campaign by Apple would convince me that Apple is ok with people just buying an iPad. I do think however, that they are kind of, somewhat cheekily, banking on the fact that people still view iPads as less powerful than they actually are and opt for a computer that costs a few hundred pounds/euros/freedom eagles whatever more instead.
TL;DR I'm really quite pleased with how 26 looks and I do think it represents some shift in Apple's thinking towards the iPad, but until Apple comes out and says 'Most of you don't need a Mac AND an iPad Air/Pro - an iPad Air/Pro can be your sole computer' I think there's this ceiling for the iPad that will never be broken. This point is probably never going to come as it would be an act of self-sabotage by Apple.
I guess, however, that Apple may just want us as the users to declare the iPad enough for ourselves and so maybe one shouldn't be waiting from a clear official nod from Apple? Waiting for the latter is probably a misplaced hope - Apple gains from the strategic ambiguity.
