Take this one with a grain of salt, but The Information says Apple is developing a 16-inch iPad that it hopes to release in the fourth quarter of next year. The article quotes an unnamed “person familiar with the project.
The article adds that such a device would “further blur the line between the iPad and Mac laptops. Apple’s largest Mac laptop is the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Claims of a 16-inch iPad tops previous claims that Apple is working on (depending on the rumor) a 14-inch or 16-inch tablet. But exactly whom would such a device be targeted?
The Sellers Research Group (that’s me) thinks that such a machine would only make sense if it’s running macOS instead of iPadOS. As As noted by AppleInsider, leaker Majin Bu claims Apple is working on a version of macOS exclusively for the M2 iPad Pro.
He says it will be a “smaller” version of the operating system and arrive in 2023. According to Bu, testing is being done with a 25% larger macOS UI so it is suitable for touch. However, apps run on the product would still be iPad-optimized versions, not macOS ones.
I’m still a bit dubious about this (why wouldn’t Apple just release macOS on an iPad instead of a “lite” version). However, Apple constantly describes the iPad as its most “versatile” device and has said that “your next computer might not be a computer.”
What would be more versatile than a 16-inch iPad Pro running macOS?
