Do we think Apple even wants people to just use an iPad?

[Shorty89]

around September 2024 i ditched my MacBook Air and moved to my iPad Pro M4 with a Magic Keyboard with iPadOS 26 I don’t think I will moving away from my iPad anytime soon. I use it as my daily driver for my work in Department of Education in a Australia

 

[turbineseaplane]

Well yes. Apple is a corporation, and the prime goal of a corporation is to maintain and increase shareholder value.

There's a balance there.
It's too easy of an out to justify everything with "increase shareholder value".

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I think people, especially on these types of websites seriously underestimate how many people, not “geeks”, your regular doctors, lawyers, teachers, parents, flight attendant, office manager, etc never, ever touch terminal, Xcode, Final Cut Pro, etc ever in their life.
i’d argue that for the vast amount of consumers, not Mac users but just consumers in general, the iPad is perfectly fine and has been perfectly fine since at least the first iPad Pro.
besides price point, there is a reason Apple sells 20 million Macs for every 60 Million iPads.
They’re perfect first time computers, they are perfect computers for people who have retired, they are perfect computers for the casual consumer.
most average consumers don’t even understand what the file system even is.
i’d even say that it’s likely that the vast majority of the 2 billion iPhone users wouldn’t know the difference between “Finder” and “Spotlight”, and think “Terminal.app” is a type of game or something. Steve was right, people just… Do not want to have to deal with that.

 

[Happy_John]

around September 2024 i ditched my MacBook Air and moved to my iPad Pro M4 with a Magic Keyboard with iPadOS 26 I don’t think I will moving away from my iPad anytime soon. I use it as my daily driver for my work in Department of Education in a Australia

I wouldn’t have been able to do it now, but I might well if the new window and more “finder-like” files app works our.

I’m very much “lower-end of mid-tier”, so I’d do it with an iPad Air 13”. I’d want a pro, but I don’t need it.

Yes, I’m cheap

 

[TechnoMonk]

I love to eat a big T bone steak, but I enjoy a nice Philly cheese steak too. iPad and Mac are two different types of computers with some overlap.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I think people, especially on these types of websites seriously underestimate how many people, not “geeks”, your regular doctors, lawyers, teachers, parents, flight attendant, office manager, etc never, ever touch terminal, Xcode, Final Cut Pro, etc ever in their life.
i’d argue that for the vast amount of consumers, not Mac users but just consumers in general, the iPad is perfectly fine and has been perfectly fine since at least the first iPad Pro.
besides price point, there is a reason Apple sells 20 million Macs for every 60 Million iPads.
They’re perfect first time computers, they are perfect computers for people who have retired, they are perfect computers for the casual consumer.
most average consumers don’t even understand what the file system even is.
i’d even say that it’s likely that the vast majority of the 2 billion iPhone users wouldn’t know the difference between “Finder” and “Spotlight”, and think “Terminal.app” is a type of game or something. Steve was right, people just… Do not want to have to deal with that.

Very true. I have a maxed out MBP and iPad Pro which I use as test bed. My family uses iPad Pro as their main device and share a base M2 MBA on occasion if they need computer. They don’t want to deal with complications of Mac or go download and install stuff.

 

[teh_hunterer]

It's an interesting question. For my grandfather, yes it has 100% replaced a computer for him for the last 10 years. He's on the 13" M4 Pro with Magic Keyboard and hasn't even mentioned the possibility of getting a computer for at least a few years. So for some people, absolutely.

For someone like me, the question doesn't even get off the ground. My computer needs to do a few things:

- Run desktop software that simply isn't on iPad (WoW for example)
- Have a big enough screen (16" minimum) so that I can be 100% productive with music production and other complicated tasks no matter where I am in the world
- Be powerful enough to replace a desktop, so when I'm at home I just plug in a single thunderbolt cable and I'm on a full desktop setup with multiple monitors, mouse, keyboard, and run that desktop software at desktop level performance

The iPad simply lacks the physical screen size, computing power/cooling, and software compatibility to even begin to replace my laptop. But in my particular case, my laptop has to replace a desktop. It would be a pretty insane feat for a tablet to replace something that replaces a desktop.

My 11" M1 iPad Pro is still a great device though. I use it for a lot of browsing and YouTube in bed or on the couch. I also use it on the Magic Keyboard when I want to do some more typing. As users of the old 11" MacBook Air or 12" MacBook would be able to tell you, a device around 11" with a trackpad and keyboard is a pretty nifty form factor, regardless of whether it's a tablet or laptop. Being in tablet form though, it's nice to be able to take it off the keyboard and use it as a pure tablet. And for couch use, being able to choose between the trackpad and touch screen is nice for varying up movements so you're less likely to get RSI.

TLDR, yes for my grandfather, no for me. But Apple Silicon is still impressive given that I've been able to go from three devices (desktop, laptop, tablet) down to two (laptop, tablet).

 

[novagamer]

I’ve been using iPadOS 26 for a few weeks and personally I don’t see a real use for the windowing system unless I was traveling and absolutely needed to work with 2 apps side by side.

Because there aren’t great gestures for windowed mode specifically it’s faster for me to just swipe between apps using the trackpad than it is to use the windowing system, especially since (⌘ + ~) doesn’t work.

Perhaps if they release a 15” iPad I might use it, but I don’t know. I’m glad they made it better but I’m surprised at how ambivalent I am to it, even as a heavy long term Mac user.

Stage manager got a bit more useful though, and I would probably use windowed apps if I plugged it into a Thunderbolt display but that functionality in the beta is pretty broken at the moment.


I do think the iPad Pro is the best web browsing device full stop, especially if you move around the house a lot to do things in different areas like I do, it’s really nice to throw on the countertop and spend a half hour standing up instead of hunched over the desk. I wouldn’t want my MBP there but the iPad and the keyboard just wipe clean.

The heavily sandboxed environment is also great for the web and I find browsing generally nicer on the iPad vs. other devices.

I haven’t gotten the M4 because I’m annoyed the speakers got worse, I use it all the damn time for listening to music and the slight drop in quality really annoys me, but the OLED would be nice.

I vastly prefer using Lightroom on the iPad vs. a Mac, and it’s super nice for e.g. traveling overseas and quickly importing and moving through photos the day you take them if you’re so inclined.

Since the 2018 revision it’s been a great device in continual use. During some periods when my work is really intense I won’t even touch my Mac for a couple weeks just to get a break from another desk setup, but I’m happy to have both when I go back.

 

[Andy_2341]

This is an interesting thread for me. I started out with an iPad mini 6, and did all my school work from it with the old school windowing. I recently installed OS26 beta for a month and found the windowing to be promising. It did indeed increase productivity and the iPad does an awesome job.

But since downgrading back to 18, I’ve decided I’m not so sure anymore. I don’t really do anything technical besides saving files, and I don’t really game besides some Minecraft, which is far cheaper for the iPad. I use the Apple Pencil for notes all the time.

There’s just something about Mac that draws at me. In fact, I’m considering dropping digital notes and going back to paper and pen, selling the iPad, and going to a MacBook. Yeah, the iPad more than does all I need, and my Mac mini has me covered for external drives, but there’s an odd versatility in my eyes to the MacBook that even the iPad mini doesn’t quite reach despite now having a phone app and proper windowing and being able to fit in my pocket easily.

TLDR, it depends on how you prefer to do things and if you cloud sync your files or still do stuff externally. External storage and app needs means you’re probably going for Mac.

 

[257Loner]

I think the new iPad OS '26 has made a significant leap in offering powerful new software features and has closed the gap between the iPad's software and the Mac's. Because of this, by this Fall the iPad will stand a better chance of being the sole computing device (besides your smartphone) that many people will need. Moreover, this also puts the iPad in a better position to continue to be upgraded over the years to reach feature parity with Macintosh software until, some year in the future, the iPad will be able to stand on its own, code on its own, perform on its own, etc.

I'm already impressed with all of the laptop-class accessories that enhance the iPad's productivity, such as the Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil Pro, and any quality third-party wireless mouse. Now add iPad OS '26's true windowing support, file system enhancements, and background processing features, and the iPad is transformed into a proper computer it never was before. Then you can comfortably await any further enhancements from future OS updates every year thereafter.

 

[grammatica]

If iPad serves one's computing needs, it's enough. For those who use Mac for real work, iPad is just for leisure.

 

[macfacts]

The iPad technically is a computer, but it is "gimped" so much, it is more an appliance.

 

[AlexESP]

There's a balance there.
It's too easy of an out to justify everything with "increase shareholder value".

But it is very closely linked, instead of a balance. It’s not like they can decide “let’s increase shareholder by making our products worse/more expensive”, with no consequences. They’ve increased profits (and market cap) so much because many more users like their products and buy them.

 

[Ctrlos]

The window management in iPadOS26 is a bit of a mess to be honest. It's nowhere near as fluid as a Mac. Tryung to shrink back a full screen app often invokes the dock as much as the window toggle in the corner and it's not always clear where you hold to drag them around.

The menu bar is great on theory but the fact it hides away means you forget it's there. It's a better idea than stage manager but the iPad was never built for fluid window management.

I feel this is another great example of Apple listening to the wants of it's users instead of telling them what they need. There was nowhere else they could have taken iPadOS and so where else do you go?

Ultimately split view and slide over where better solutions than anything they've come up with since and really they need to return.

 

[Ctrlos]

Well yes. Apple is a corporation, and the prime goal of a corporation is to maintain and increase shareholder value.

It’s not a conspiracy, it’s not a scam, they are not ripping you off in the background.

Apple sells priliducts and services, and they want as many people to buy those products and services.

Ford you to buy their cars.

McDonakd’s wants you to buy their food.

You want someone to buy your products, services, time or knowledge.

Framing this in an overly sinister way is a bit childish, frankly. Caveat Emptor. You choose to buy, or you choose not to buy. The responsibility vilify for that choice is yours.

Rain is wet.

Whilst nobody goes into the Apple Store with a gun to their head, only the most blinkered of users are ignorant of Apple's platform lock-in that are not sinister in any way but nonetheless do exist.

I can for example read my Kindle library on an iPhone but getting purchases out of iBooks is impossible. This is down to publisher DRM rather than some dark process but it is still something that locks you in to the Apple ecosystem.

 

[Abazigal]

I do believe that there was a time in the past when Apple may have genuinely believed that the iPad could suffice as a general-purpose computer for the average consumer. I remember the 2018 iPad Pro, with its usb-c port, support for external storage, apple silicon and lumafusion running rings around intel PCs.

There is an article written by Neil Cybart in 2017 which elaborates on this.

Above Avalon: The Mac Is Turning into Apple's Achilles' Heel

Apple's decision to change course and develop a new Mac Pro has received near-universal praise from the company's pro community. While developing a new Mac Pro is the right decision for Apple to make given the current situation, it has become clear that the Mac is a major vulnerability in Apple's br

www.aboveavalon.com

But somewhere along the line, the iPad just stopped getting significant updates to its OS, developers no longer seem as enthusiastic about the platform, and it continues to be stuck between the iPhone and the Mac in terms of functionality (heck, even features like widgets would come a year after the iPhone).

I suspect it's a combination of initiatives like the apple car and Vision Pro "stealing" focus and resources away from the iPad, and perhaps Apple engineers simply not being sure of what's next.

 

[uacd]

I think it's likely a mistake to try to prognosticate out 50 years given how life and technology and society all are these days, and how they've changed so much in the last 50 and certainly the 50 before that.

Indeed With the pace the technology is moving, no wonder if Apple makes Star Wars-inspired comlink-like device in 5 years and says “that’s your new Apple Watch and an iPhone!”

It’s very annoying because the iPad is a great devices for filling out forms and signing documents. They’re just terrible the moment you need to save that files to files and then upload it to some clunky website that was designed for a desktop OS.

Yes, absolutely. I also find it so inconvenient that many sites are still not optimized for mobile and I gotta click “open in desktop mode” each and every time I want to access specific feature. Also some companies simply block some features behind the walls on mobile, such as Google. I remember when I wanted to upload an image for fast search and Google had always been nagging me about downloading their app (which I obviously don’t want for just a reverse image search).

Apps are good but sometimes it is not as convenient as simply visiting a website

 

[throAU]

As Steve said - the future is people who do not need macOS to use something that is safer and easier to deal with.

The cars vs. trucks analogy.

macOS is the truck
ipadOS is the car

Not everyone needs or wants a truck, but the world still does need trucks!

Where i work we are actively considering whether or not most of our end users could get by with an ipad pro, the folio and an ultra-wide monitor (32x9, 49" to give same usable space as 2x 27" displays).

Sure. we have engineering workstations, etc. but for the bulk of our end users who do email, web apps and comms - and who already have an iPhone - the ipad will give them a lot of common ground and less risk of malware, etc. than the windows PCs we currently support.


As i've said many times here before, my daily carry is a macbook pro and an ipad air (inc pencil and keyboard).

If i had to give one of them up for the day... well... i've actually gone days without the macbook before when i have been on the road and managed fine. I've also gone without the ipad. ipadOS 26 is going to make the choice even more difficult. Yeah the mac is more powerful but i don't always need it, and the ipad caa do things the mac can't, like sketch diagrams, take notes, etc.

 

[Ipadonly1]

We seem to have very different experiences.

The web was designed pre tablet and that shows. Whenever I’ve tried to do something important on an iPad usually I’ll hit issues with web compatibility or sites that just won’t load and I end up needing to grab the Mac.

It’s very annoying because the iPad is a great devices for filling out forms and signing documents. They’re just terrible the moment you need to save that files to files and then upload it to some clunky website that was designed for a desktop OS.

Yes! And it’s those clunky sites that then ask for a signature and I’m like ‘what do you want me to do?!’ Asking me to etch a sketch a signature

 

[TechRunner]

A larger sized iPad and this might be a different conversation. Watching with interest the folding and thin-and-light races to see if a choice between 15" MBA and 15" iPad with MKB eventually becomes reality. If that happens, it will be fun to see who gravitates in which direction.

 

[AlixSPQR]

Apple wants us to buy every single product it makes. Therefore, no single product should be considered enough for anyone. Of course, most people won't buy them all, but that's Apple's rationale.

 

[Macbookey]

“What’s a computer?” Remember that nauseating ad?

In all seriousness after 15 years of cars and trucks analogy it hasn’t panned out. Many recent quarters where the Mac made more money on less units sold. The issue is the snail pace development of iPad OS and file and window management on it. Consumers en masse are not using iPads at the same level a Mac user uses a Mac. Then add price sensitivity to the mix. Tim thought the iPad was the darling of Apple’s future and the era of Mac neglect began. Then they reversed course.

The clamshell form factor of the laptop and the robustness and ports of the Mac make it what it is. The pinto the majority is an awesome bigger screen iPhone that they do the same things on. They don’t see the iPad the way a Macrumors member would. And they don’t care.

The way I look at it personally, what could go away tomorrow and have the least impact? The iPhone, the iPad, or the Mac? The iPad is a clear answer for me. The Mac is the foundation of everything  does and builds in Cupertino. It’s been 15 years and to me, I don’t see the iPad becoming what everyone predicted it would. For it to become that, it would essentially be a touchscreen Mac. And at the of the day, it would still be a Mac. Just my 2 cents.

If I was in university doing everything on an iPad, the iPad would feel like a clunky 18 wheeler, and the MacBook would feel like the Ferrari.

As a musician/guitarist, the iPad is incapable of doing what the Mac can. I don’t see that changing in the next 15 years either. I will bet against the iPad any day on many fronts. It has more to do with Apple than it does the device itself and what could be that won’t be.

 

[Wanted797]

Yes, absolutely. I also find it so inconvenient that many sites are still not optimized for mobile and I gotta click “open in desktop mode” each and every time I want to access specific feature.

I recently had to deal with insurance and got a document to sign

On the iPad I couldn’t scroll through the PDF viewer on the website. Even open in desktop mode didn’t work.

I was forced to use my Mac. Then when I went to sign I ended up using my iPad and pencil because the Mac allows them to link for signing something…

 

[throAU]

In all seriousness after 15 years of cars and trucks analogy it hasn’t panned out. Many recent quarters where the Mac made more money on less units sold.

The thing is, a huge number of people use the PHONE as their primary device these days and even a tablet is more than they need.

The iphone makes more money than ipad and mac combined, as a result. Its the bicycle of the scenario.

 

[Macbookey]

The thing is, a huge number of people use the PHONE as their primary device these days and even a tablet is more than they need.

The iphone makes more money than ipad and mac combined, as a result. Its the bicycle of the scenario.

Of course. But the iPad is not the larger screen step upwards that can supplant the Mac. So my answer to the thread question is I certainly hope not. Enter the folding iPhone and what suffers more? The iPad or the Mac. The folding iPhone if it is iOS folded and something akin to iPad OS unfolded then wow. But the Mac has been and always will be “the computer for the rest of us” that the iPhone cannot be. The folding iPhone will eat into the iPad.

I know a lot that just use an iPhone alone. But when it comes to needing more, it’s not the iPad they want, it’s the Mac. That’s in the circle I see. YMMV. People at jobs still use computers. People working from home still use “traditional” computers and I don’t see the iPad taking that over any time soon. That dependency is still there.

Enter the low cost A series driven MacBook and the game could change again for the dedicated  loyalist.