The Mac and iPad may be on a ‘collision course’ (Apple Pad anyone?)

In a new Macworld article that you really should read, Jason Snell says that the Mac and the iPad are on a collision course, and something needs to change. 

He doesn’t think that Apple should necessarily merge macOS and iPadOS but that users might be better served “if the iPad Pro could be more like a Mac and the MacBook could be more like an iPad Pro.”

However, I’ve long favored a more radical approach: an Apple device that could replace both the iPad and the Mac. I call it the “Apple Pad.”

Image an iPad Pro form factor that works with a detachable keyboard, as well as a mouse and trackpad. Imagine such a device plugging into an “Apple Studio Display Pro” 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.

Voila! You’d have one device to replace your Mac desktop, Mac laptop, and iPad Pro. The Apple Pad would pack an Apple-developed processor and could be offered in various sizes: 11-inches, 13-inches, and 15-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.

Of course, this would involve merging iPadOS and macOS into one AppleOS operating system (Apple OS?). Apple has stated time and again that it won’t do this nor merge the iPad and Mac into one device. 

However, I think they will. The question, as far as I’m concerned, is when this will happen?