However Apple has been heading on this path for some time. In 2020, the Magic Keyboard introduced an additional port and a full trackpad to the iPad. Then in 2022, the corporate launched exterior show help, and at last, within the 2024 update to iPad Pros, the webcam was moved in portrait mode. However this yr’s replace actually feels prefer it reached the tipping level. And Apple bought the premise in two actually sensible methods too.
Firstly, most iPad customers could by no means even understand the windowing function is there. Like many deeper iPad options, windowing is only optionally available and hidden by default. Open an app in your iPad, and it nonetheless defaults to full-screen. It appear doubtless that the common particular person would by no means discover the tiny resizing icon within the backside proper nook of apps. That is an vital design choice, because it retains intact the first identification of the iPad as an easier interface.
Second, Apple coyly by no means referred to those new parts as Mac-like in the course of the keynote, as an alternative merely calling them “acquainted.” It even spaced iPadOS and macOS aside from one another inside the presentation, cautious to not name consideration to only how comparable these two merchandise have change into. Apple would by no means wish to pit two of its merchandise towards one another, and has all the time implied that there is purpose for somebody to personal each an iPad and a Mac. However with iPadOS 26, let’s be actual: That requires some critical cognitive dissonance to consider now.
I am not suggesting iPads will ever substitute the MacBook Pro. The individuals who actually need that further efficiency will all the time flock to these extra highly effective Macs. However what about Apple’s much more standard laptop computer, the MacBook Air?
The iPad Professional and MacBook Air have all the time been confusingly shut in worth and specs—certainly, there’s hazard of Apple cannibalizing its personal merchandise. I do not doubt Apple will maintain each round so long as doable, however I really feel extra inclined than ever to check the 2 immediately. That is much more true for the reason that iPadOS replace will even be out there on the bottom iPad and iPad mini when it formally rolls out later this Fall.
So, does all this imply {that a} correct union between iPadOS and macOS is within the works? Or how a couple of touchscreen MacBook? Previously, Apple has acknowledged definitively that it has no plans to merge its working methods. That was a declaration that earned cheers from the viewers again at WWDC in 2018. And but, regardless of how far fetched these ideas sounded seven years in the past, absolutely anything appears doable at this level.
From the brand new Liquid Glass interface to the Mac-like options coming to the iPad, right here’s all of the information from Monday’s WWDC keynote.
