I would prefer it if they made iPad OS more like Mac OS.
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Will Apple's Large-Screened Foldable be an iPad or a Mac?
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If it’s true, there will be a Mac one and an iPad one. It’s primarily an iPad, they’ll just take out some of the iPad guts and install macOS on it. As everyone’s noticed, Apple’s been moving towards making their Macs more like their non-Mac stuff. The UI is changing, the processor they run on has changed and the final thing left is to make mobile Macs with what are essentially iPad parts. Instead of one production line for mobile Macs and one for iPads, all on the same line 
There’s a massive wave of folks coming of age that have primarily used touch on their personal device, or the device they have the most access to. I can see how folks that grew up with physical keyboards will balk, but, times change. Some folks never got used to those gol durned “meesies”.
There’s a massive wave of folks coming of age that have primarily used touch on their personal device, or the device they have the most access to. I can see how folks that grew up with physical keyboards will balk, but, times change. Some folks never got used to those gol durned “meesies”.
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It’s a MACPAD ! But if an iPhone fold will be starting price at $2300 how much this will be ? Seriously Tim, your stubbornness to avoid having a touch screen on Mac is becoming ridiculous … And after the flop of the inflated VP you should know that we have a limit as consumers … I am preparing to switch if by 2026 nothing new comes from Cupertino that we are all desperate for
Do you want "innovative" or do you want the best possible products? Sometimes like AVP we get both, but in general I personally prefer to get the best possible products.
It seems to me that Apple is probably still in the developmental stage with foldable devices. So IMO it is premature to be guessing what single device with what single OS we may get when in fact we may get multiple different foldable devices, perhaps even with different OSs. If the folding tech plays well with focus groups we may see all kinds of devices with folding displays.
If was to list my own choice for the first foldable it would be a full size HomePod with a folding display on top that could be left closed or left open. Folding would make it half as big as the conceptual big iPads on top that we have been seeing proposed which would allow the HomePod to still have excellent sound quality without being kludged up by the big iPad on top. Also a display on a HomePod would get folded/unfolded probably less than 1% as often as it would on something like a phone or tablet, improving longevity.
If was to list my own choice for the first foldable it would be a full size HomePod with a folding display on top that could be left closed or left open. Folding would make it half as big as the conceptual big iPads on top that we have been seeing proposed which would allow the HomePod to still have excellent sound quality without being kludged up by the big iPad on top. Also a display on a HomePod would get folded/unfolded probably less than 1% as often as it would on something like a phone or tablet, improving longevity.
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Interesting that you are "preparing to switch if by 2026 nothing new comes from Cupertino that we are all desperate for." If newness is what you really need you probably should not be using the Apple ecosystem aiming to be solid, useful across the ecosystem, secure and long term; even staid. The very latest bells and whistles will usually show up running under Android first. The volatility of devices running the free (admittedly unsecure) Android OS would seem better for you as you seek newness.
As many of the rumors we read here at MR from time to time. That’s why we call them rumors.
thank you Tim for your advise I will pass on your propaganda. I am an Apple user since 1991 faithful to Steve Jobs vision but I am afraid that the misfits have been replaced by the greeds
Last time I checked, a touch screen keyboard is part of the screen. There aren't any physical buttons, grooves, or lighting; hence, a touchscreen keyboard is not a physical keyboard.
A physical keyboard is a device with physical keys
Me too. As an Architect who does a lot of sketching in Goodnotes/Concepts my iPad Pro has been great. But final touches in PS and putting together presentations in InDesign still requires my MacBook Pro and in my case a connection to the office server.
If this has MacOS with the ability to run iOS apps, with a 20” monitor when open, I don’t care how much it costs,
Without a physical keyboard, you can't reliably touch type. Seems like a non-starter for many tasks you'd use a Mac (vs an iPad or iPhone) for. Haptics might get good enough to feel like keys when you tap on that part of the screen, but it won't be able to duplicate the part where you can align your fingers on the keys by feels.
Whatever it is it’s interesting looking. Rather see this one ia physical presence Then see these mock ups in this manner. It can be just about anything. I guess you’re gonna have to wait until it’s either real or just another rumor. Whatever the case is interesting looking nice mock up.
I don’t think they’ll ever do this anyway
But iOS coild run in a virtual machine
When you get news like this, I'd analyze it from following angles:
1. Why it is designed, for whom and what use
2. Experience and capacity
3. Likely price, sellability and profitability
1. Starting from the design, all touch devices are now can be divided into iPad-type, pure Android, touch only and mixed use, such as iPads with keyboards and Microsoft Surface devices, some variations of Android like Dex, a bit of hybrid devices. So who is going to use these large foldable devices? Obviously people who large screens on go. There can be few fields such as musicians, video and photo editors, artists who'd need such large screen on go (remember it is close to 19 inches, so it dwarfs even large 16 inch macbooks), yet without the bulk of built in keyboard or trackpad. So, yes, the device can probably connect to physical keyboard and trackpad, but this will negate its true purpose of large screen on go in lightweight way, so its primarily inputs are touch, and virtual keyboard and trackpad on the screen.
2. Apple has enogh expertise to build such a device. Microsoft is also a big player in this field with its Surface line and it began experimenting with hybrid OS since Windows 8 times and it did create a Surface table prototype. I'd say Microsoft and Apple are both world leading players in this regard.
3. The device (19 inch) will probably weight about 2 kg, or close to two iPad Airs. It will also may cost about 1500 dollars, again close to two iPad Airs, maybe more initially. The device will house Apple's CPU, GPU and modem and therefore, create another market for Apple devices and components. How much it will sell? Larger screen is a major factor so I'd say some artists may buy it as well as rich people.
4. What OS? I think that it has to have MacOS to be sellable. A large ipad even foldable, is still limited by iPadOS. Macs with built in touch capacity is a fascinating idea.
1. Why it is designed, for whom and what use
2. Experience and capacity
3. Likely price, sellability and profitability
1. Starting from the design, all touch devices are now can be divided into iPad-type, pure Android, touch only and mixed use, such as iPads with keyboards and Microsoft Surface devices, some variations of Android like Dex, a bit of hybrid devices. So who is going to use these large foldable devices? Obviously people who large screens on go. There can be few fields such as musicians, video and photo editors, artists who'd need such large screen on go (remember it is close to 19 inches, so it dwarfs even large 16 inch macbooks), yet without the bulk of built in keyboard or trackpad. So, yes, the device can probably connect to physical keyboard and trackpad, but this will negate its true purpose of large screen on go in lightweight way, so its primarily inputs are touch, and virtual keyboard and trackpad on the screen.
2. Apple has enogh expertise to build such a device. Microsoft is also a big player in this field with its Surface line and it began experimenting with hybrid OS since Windows 8 times and it did create a Surface table prototype. I'd say Microsoft and Apple are both world leading players in this regard.
3. The device (19 inch) will probably weight about 2 kg, or close to two iPad Airs. It will also may cost about 1500 dollars, again close to two iPad Airs, maybe more initially. The device will house Apple's CPU, GPU and modem and therefore, create another market for Apple devices and components. How much it will sell? Larger screen is a major factor so I'd say some artists may buy it as well as rich people.
4. What OS? I think that it has to have MacOS to be sellable. A large ipad even foldable, is still limited by iPadOS. Macs with built in touch capacity is a fascinating idea.