OS’es don’t use power. Apps do. This nonsense about iPadOS getting in the way of using the full power of <insert favorite M-series chip here> needs to stop.
The M1 introduced virtual memory, dual monitor support through two display controllers, and hardware video encoders/decoders. The M2 introduced ProRes. The M3 introduced AV1 decoders, ray tracing and a new graphics engine. The M4 introduced a new neural engine that will be better utilized by what was talked about today.
Exactly how does iPadOS get in the way of any of the features I mentioned above seeing as iPadOS or API’s provided by iPadOS fully utilize all of the above? Virtual memory and dual display controllers enabled dual screen Stage Manager along with getting rid of that 5GB memory limit for apps while all those fancy video editors people seem to want work with ProRes and the video encoders/decoders. The M4, aside from those features I mentioned above, is a faster A12X.
If you think about the Mac, 99.9% of apps don’t remotely stress an M1, let alone an M3 Max just as 99.9% of iPad apps don’t stress an M1 either. Why don’t people complain macOS gets in the way of fully utilizing that M3 Max chip when very few apps take full advantage of that chip? The answer is that the iPad’s user interface is touch based, having nothing whatsoever to do with whatever chip is inside, and a touch based environment along with a fully sandboxed OS means that Mac workflows are therefore non-optimal. If the iPad doesn’t work exactly like a Mac, tech nerds and YouTubers get in a huff while regular people buy up iPads like crazy and couldn’t care less a Files app even exists.
Apple put an M4 chip in there for three reasons. One is a display controller that can handle a tandem OLED display, two is the ability to handle AI and machine learning tasks faster with triple the performance of the M2’s neural engine, and three is because it makes things run faster in general and is more energy efficient. Why not stick in something that runs faster and cooler because all apps benefit?
I predicted weeks ago that iPadOS would emphasize ecosystem features, AI, and a small number of tablet-only features and that all the “I want the iPad to be a Mac” people would be sorely disappointed. Why anyone is remotely surprised that that was indeed the case is a mystery since Apple has said over and over that they consider the iPad and Mac to be complementary devices, not substitutes because they have entirely different input methods and are very different devices. The Mac can do 90% of what an iPad can do while an iPad can do 90% of what a Mac does. Why do people expect the iPad to do 110% of what a Mac does? Answer: because people are used to how a Mac does things and don’t want to change.
