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Why not MacOS on iPad Pro hardware?
- Thread starter bscheffel
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This is the only reason. They would rather you buy a Mac and an iPad than just an iPad ?
The DevKit is basically an iPad Pro in a Mac mini body.
They already did, it’s called iPad OS
Naw, iPadOS is basically iOS with a few tweaks.
Just about every iteration of Apple hardware features added to improve boot security have closed down jailbreak vectors. The next round of mac Apple Silicon will likely be tighter still. But yes if manage to inject enough non Apple code into boot process then sure can wedge in dual boot. It just that Apple has zero active interest in that in production products.
When the iPad Pro SoC picks up virtualization support ( probably just because easier to just let it sit there or Apple adds it to their multiple layers of security walls (more protection for the initial boot system is buried inside of non updatable hypervisor. ) , then it wouldn't be surprising if a macOS on virtual machine hack showed up also. It would be a hack but would technically work.
I could see Apple supporting macOS running in a VM on a external display on a future generation iPad Pro before they'd do "dual boot". Wouldn't have to touch iBoot and probably be as sufficient as only running non macOS in VMs will be on the AS Macs.
For now. That is in part because the iPad Pro SoC were a few tweaks away from the mainstream iPhone A series. In fact just A series with an 'X' suffix.
If Apple 'forks' the iPad Pro processors farther away and more overlap with the Mac SoCs (at least at the lowest bottom end mobile mac SoC ) then gap could get past a "few tweaks".
At some point if Apple maps the "iPad Pro magic keyboard" all the way down the to the lowest level iPad then there will be far more overlap with the entry Mac laptop than with the iPhones. It would probably take several iterations for the "hand me down" A12X ( or A14X ) to make its way down to the entry iPad but if it does iPad OS would probably become substantively more distinct from iOS than it is at this point in time.
The iPad Air is rumored to take on more iPad Pro 11" features. Over a longer period of time there is decent chance Apple will keep moving that down the product hierarchy if they can deliver more affordably in the future.
They already did, it’s called iPad OS
Well iPad OS + SwiftUI + Catalyst.
( those other two are technically in iPad OS but they are also in macOS also. Apple is lowering the gaps between that require lots of work. Some work to do still, but lower friction for new "start from scratch" apps. )
I can see Apple perhaps eventually creating a single base chassis that they can sell in two different ways. Similar to how on the Windows/Chromebook side of the market there are basically the same underlying being sold as one or the other with a few cosmetic changes .
Apple has done a slimmed down macOS for a long term. Booting into the "Recovery mode" has been a slim macOS. There is going to be an even slimmer System Recover ( that seems likely to also cover the login screen duties ) on the AS Macs. Neither one of those is moving toward touch screen interaction as being the dominate mode.
Apple going to macOS on iPad more so means Apple dropping their stance on 2-in-1 laptops. I doubt they'd back track on a mac, but more possibly could "go forward" on that for an iPad. (they have expensive attachable keyboard+trackpad. Attaching it all the time on a 360 hinge wouldn't be that big of a leap into a new area of interaction. ) [ The Mac model variant would have no 360 hinge and no touch screen but rest of the basic logicboard and ports could be the same. ]
It will be interesting to see how far removed iPadOS eventually differs from iOS.
That is more an an artificial segmentation that Apple set up for themselves to place the iPad Pro in. The MBA 11" sold into the $799 for several years. If Apple just didn't move to a mini or micro LED screen and adopted the affordable aspects of the older iBook and initial MacBook laptops then they'd have a more affordable option in the laptop space than starting at $1K.
The affordable "school"/"edu market" product has become the iPad. ( at least in the K-12 grade space). But once Apple has an older ( and "paid for" ) Apple Silicon for Macs they could do something similar they do with the iPad / iPhone is just do a trailing edge , more affordable laptop that is "fast enough" with a decent display back in the $700-800 space. Just don't make it is the most lightweight, thinnest of thin laptop ( actually more durable like iBooks were intended to be ) and there isn't much overlap with the iPad Pro.
Apple has gotten themselves all twisted at the lower end of the laptop line up. The "Macbook" disappeared and Apple pushed the "MacBook Air" into the affordable, entry laptop role. Then brought the "MacBook" back and pushed it into the role the MBA oringially had ( thinnest of thin and ligthest weight) roll. Moving to AS Mac is a great opportunity to untangle that 'mess' they have gotten themselves into and go back to the original roles.
Affordable , entry laptop that trails slightly in bleeding edge tech, not the "lightest of light" , etc. to hit better prices. ( classic iBook, MacBook role) . Bleeding edge thinnest of thin , lightest of light that charge a price premium for a narrow subset of users with money to throw at that. ( that system can be pushed up higher than the 11" iPad Pro. ) . Throw the mini/micro LED display at the MacBook Pro to keep in the > $1K zone.
That is going to become more "doable" as the iPad Pro supports larger and possibly independent external screens. ( think putting iPad into "docking station" and doing large screen work and just "pull and go" for smaller mobile subset of work. )
that isn't the whole 15" workload space , but there is a decent fraction there.
Since the new SoCs for the first ASi Macs are going to have virtual machine instructions, it is possible that they would use the same SoC CPUs with VM support in iPads and iPad Pros. This would allow them to do a MacOS virtual machine pretty easily. While it would take a lot of memory and flash storage, they could plan for that in the required new hardware. I doubt Apple will do this but if they were interested in supporting macOS on iPads, this is probably how they would do it.