Foldable MacBook-iPad Hybrid Device Likely to Run macOS, Analyst Says

[and 1989 others]

What if they boot camp it? Have the option to boot MacOS or ipad OS depending on what you are doing.

Sometimes I want to work properly. And sometimes i just want to prod useless apps with my fat finger.

 

[StuBeck]

It won't be running this. If it was, they'd already have the iPad Pros running MacOS by now.

 

[Marx55]

Yes. Mac tablet. Yes, I do not want the jailied limited iPad toy, even for free. A want a true and full computer with a true useful Finder like the Mac.

 

[robertosh]

It's a complete non-sense, so it looks legit.

 

[jamezr]

Yesterday, analyst Jeff Pu said Apple's first two foldable devices will enter mass production in the second half of 2026. Today, he provided some additional details about these devices, which are expected to launch in 2026 or 2027.

In a research note with investment firm GF Securities, Pu said the two devices will include a foldable iPhone with a 7.8-inch inner display, along with a larger foldable device with an 18.8-inch display. He described the larger foldable as a MacBook-iPad hybrid, and he believes that the device will likely run macOS, rather than iPadOS.

This is a very bold prediction, as it implies that the 18.8-inch foldable device could end up being a touch-screen Mac. In his Power On newsletter over the weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple's rumored design changes coming with iOS 19 and macOS 16 should set the stage for new hardware designs, including "foldable devices and touch-screen Macs." However, there have not been any rumors indicating that a touch-screen Mac will launch as early as next year, so some skepticism is warranted for the time being.

Pu does cite a recent report from The Wall Street Journal as the basis for some of his foldable information, so it is possible that his macOS prediction is simply based on that report having said that the 18.8-inch device is "intended to serve as a laptop." But, until we hear otherwise, we can dream about the intriguing possibility of a touch-screen Mac.

Article Link: Foldable MacBook-iPad Hybrid Device Likely to Run macOS, Analyst Says

hmmmmm...Bring back the Mac Air 11 already running MacOS....it is already a foldable running MacOS.....

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Having MacOS and iPadOS in one device is not a dream, it’s a nightmare. Needing to switch back and forth between two different UI paradigms to complete tasks is not at all what I want. I’d prefer to just stay in and maintain one system - and for me, that’s iPadOS. Merging them would be schizophrenia and prevent iPadOS from advancing. Nevertheless, I have no worries because Apple won’t let this happen.

Considering current macOS is able to run iPadOS / iOS apps, I don’t see a problem, much less a nightmare with what this rumor is imagining.
It’s not like you will have two separate environments. It’s just macOS running iPadOS/iOS apps.
If macOS gets improvements in Touch and Pen, then we have the perfect Hybrid macOS/iPadOS foldable.

 

[Plerf]

It’s time for Apple to stick a fork in iPadOS and move all MacOS-capable devices with enough screen space to MacOS. Let’s set the boundary arbitrarily at:

iPad mini gets iOS

All other iPads get MacOS.

iPadOS lives its days on a farm upstate but we’re not allowed to visit, Plerfy. 😢

 

[loby]

MacOS wouldn't make much sense. is it a mobile device or a laptop computer? MacOS with a touchscreen and no mouse? Just seems like a very small laptop now.

Some years ago, Apple said they would keep macOS and iOS separate and had no plans to merge the two. I remember them saying macOS does not work well with touch and not practical for a touch screen MacBook. But hey….who holds Apple to their word…?

 

[Cesar Battistini]

Thank god! If they throw iPad OS they killed the product.

 

[foggygray]

I don’t get why anyone would want to use a non touch optimized OS on a touch screen. And grafting a touch UI onto a non-touch UI is how you get Windows 8. Yuck.

 

[Bazza1]

As long as this means a significant upgrade to PadOS, and not the continued dumbifying of MacOS, then sure.
Current PadOS is oversexed iPod Touch / iPhone OS from 2007 - and the hobbled apps that implies.
MacOS recently seems to want to go to that level rather than build on a real computer OS.

 

[Jean Claude]

Having MacOS and iPadOS in one device is not a dream, it’s a nightmare. Needing to switch back and forth between two different UI paradigms to complete tasks is not at all what I want. I’d prefer to just stay in and maintain one system - and for me, that’s iPadOS. Merging them would be schizophrenia and prevent iPadOS from advancing. Nevertheless, I have no worries because Apple won’t let this happen.

Weird take. Firstly, you're ignoring that by the time this device is launched, there will have been numerous advancements and design tweaks that continue to bring iOS and MacOs UIs together more seamlessly (as has already been happening for years now). But also, the core demographic for this device will be users that already have both mobile and desktop devices - so the idea you're using a hybrid of both on one device is not even close to the "nightmare" you're making it out to be....

 

[MAlbi]

Whole screen laptop device, that might sell just as good as visionPro.
Only advantage of onscreen keyboard is less effort to clean it.
That device will require external keyboard. So yes fold it inside of magic keyboard folio.
Naaah until there is no fold but two/more separate displays, no IP6x. Pity.
MacOS good.
EDIT: spelling, my nemesis haha

 

[neotint]

Why? For who? Why? Why? Why? Why?

 

[gnomeisland]

This kind of makes sense since MacOS systems *can* run all iPad apps (limited only by developer agreement). iPadOS is fundamentally limited from running MacOS apps.

It is only unclear to me how they would handle the all-the-way-unfolded-giant-tablet mode because MacOS apps don't play nice without a keyboard and mouse (and that'll be a BIG that needs both hands to hold). Perhaps they'll bring back some version of the split keyboard?

That said, this will be clunky.

 

[gnomeisland]

Honestly, Apple has such a good phone and a good tablet experience (which are basically the same OS anyway) the strangest thing about this rumor is not that a device this size would run MacOS over iPadOS but that they would make this over an iPhone that unfolds into an iPad.

 

[MAlbi]

How would one type on this without looking at the keys?

By the time this goes to production, Siri will. Or Siri on day 1 release. Siriously.

 

[mlayer]

Microsoft proved with its abysmal handling of touch in Windows 8-10 that integrating touch into a desktop OS is much harder than it looks, to the point that it's barely in Windows 11 at all. I'm sure that has also given Apple pause in testing for Mac OS. My work Windows laptop has a touchscreen which I never use. It's a very simple problem. When I am at a desk the screen is beyond arm's length, never mind the gorilla-arm thing. When I am using a tablet or phone it is ready available to touch. Both OS paradigms have properly sized UI elements. This is all talk about a product with no clear purpose.

 

[Lin-sauce]

Yes an ipad with macos.. but why it has to be foldable? I’m not really interested to interact with macos true touch and definitely not interested in a virtual keyboard… the only thing I would want is to use the pencil as input device in a normal/professional operating system 🤓✏️

 

[groove-agent]

People: WE WANT MACOS IN THE IPAD
Also people: WHEN RUMORS OF MACOS IN A TOUCH DEVICE APPEAR, WE COMPLAIN

That’s because not all people are the same and they have different needs.

 

[groove-agent]

Microsoft proved with its abysmal handling of touch in Windows 8-10 that integrating touch into a desktop OS is much harder than it looks, to the point that it's barely in Windows 11 at all. I'm sure that has also given Apple pause in testing for Mac OS. My work Windows laptop has a touchscreen which I never use. It's a very simple problem. When I am at a desk the screen is beyond arm's length, never mind the gorilla-arm thing. When I am using a tablet or phone it is ready available to touch. Both OS paradigms have properly sized UI elements. This is all talk about a product with no clear purpose.

Actually, I control MacOS with my fingers via iPad running AstroPad Studio and it’s more functional than you might think.

 

[groove-agent]

It’s time for Apple to stick a fork in iPadOS and move all MacOS-capable devices with enough screen space to MacOS. Let’s set the boundary arbitrarily at:

iPad mini gets iOS

All other iPads get MacOS.

iPadOS lives its days on a farm upstate but we’re not allowed to visit, Plerfy. 😢

The irony is I just watched the iPhone keynote and Jobs praised the new device because it was “running MacOS”.

 

[groove-agent]

Touch is whatever. I want PEN!

But I also need high performance and active cooling for my Mac applications. So this might not be for me either way, at least not as a main work device. 🙁

Not for general use otherwise we’d be going back in time to the stylus.

 

[groove-agent]

Honestly if I could design an Apple product I would create an iPhone that could be docked and used like a Mac. Then you could buy a (foldable?) iPad like touch screen that somehow acts as a wired or wireless I/O device. Keep the phone in your pocket but use the touch screen to interface with it.

I think with the power of current iPhones it’s possible but Apple would prefer to sell you multiple computers to get through your day.

 

[mlayer]

Honestly if I could design an Apple product I would create an iPhone that could be docked and used like a Mac. Then you could buy a (foldable?) iPad like touch screen that somehow acts as a wired or wireless I/O device. Keep the phone in your pocket but use the touch screen to interface with it.

I think with the power of current iPhones it’s possible but Apple would prefer to sell you multiple computers to get through your day.

On my desk are a 6" iPhone, 10.5" iPad, 13.6" MacBook Air connected to a 24" 4K monitor. All four provide the flexibility I couldn't even dream about 30 years ago. Sometimes I have 3 or 4 screens running. Sometimes I go on the road with one or two. The MBA is almost there because of Continuity and iPhone mirroring. Soon the iPhone will be able to control everything. For now I'm fine with each computing device being autonomous as long as it has access to the same data and sharing among them is seamless, which it mostly is.