In a May interview with The Wall Street Journal, Tom Boger, Apple’s vice president of iPad and Mac product marketing, said the iPad and Mac aren’t competing devices, but complement each other. This follows (valid) complaints that the new iPad Pro with M4 processor is held back with the limitations of iPadOS.
Boger says that the iPad “has always been a touch-first device” whereas the Mac is for “indirect manipulation,” that is working using accessories like a keyboard and trackpad. When asked whether Apple will ever change its mind about a touch-screen Mac, he said, “Oh, I can’t say we never change our mind.”
However, in an ideal world, I wouldn’t need an iPad Pro and a Mac. The former would, in my scenario, run macOS or at least an updated version of iPadOS that overcomes the limitations of the current version.
For a great overview of those limitations, read this in-depth article by Federico Viticci. And, as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman tweets, “the iPad Pro hardware has always been state of the art with intentionally throttled software to not displace the Mac. Until that changes, the product doesn’t change.”
I’ve wanted a device that I’ve dubbed the “Apple Pad” for a long time. Imagine an iPad Pro form factor that works with a detachable keyboard, as well as a mouse and trackpad. Imagine such a device plugging into a 27-inch (or bigger) Apple Studio Display that has touch control AND gesture control. You could also plug in an external GPU for even better performance and connect external drives for more storage.
Apple actually was granted a patent in 2006 for such a system. And the tech giant has filed a patent for an integrated monitor and docking station for a laptop. The docking station would allow a laptop (or, in my scenario, an Apple Pad) to be slid into the design from the side and then acting as a desktop computer.
The Apple Pad would pack an Apple-developed processor and could be offered in various sizes: 11 inches, 13 inches, 15 inches, perhaps even 17 inches.
Under this scenario, when you want a big screen, keyboard, lots of processing power, etc., you would use the Apple Pad/Apple Vision/eGPU combo. When you’re on the go, detach the Apple Pad and take it with you.
I doubt we’ll see such a device anytime soon. Meanwhile, Apple will continue to hamper the iPad Pro in hopes that many users will buy it AND a Mac laptop.
