A new report says Apple should bring the Mac and iPad closer together. What would this future look like, and is it even a good idea? I’m not convinced.
Every few months, we hear the same argument being made: Apple should bring the Mac and the iPad closer together — or even merge them and their operating systems completely — to create some sort of hybrid device that would solve all of Apple’s problems. While I don’t entirely agree with these assessments, they do provide an interesting look into how your Apple devices might work in the coming years.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is the latest to throw his hat into the ring, and the reporter’s Power On newsletter has detailed what he believes Apple should do to shape the future of the Mac and the iPad.
For one thing, Gurman believes that Apple should outfit the Mac with an OLED display and touchscreen functionality. For another, he advocates for the iPad to gain “a much better operating system” and the ability to run Mac apps.
There are some compelling points in there, and I definitely agree that the Mac range should come with OLED screens now that we’ve seen the quality Apple has infused into the iPad Pro’s Ultra Retina XDR display. And while I don’t think it would be a good idea to load macOS onto the iPad (the operating system is just not designed for touch interfaces), I think the iPad should get some Mac apps in certain circumstances — Mac games would be a good addition, for example, particularly since many iPads and Macs use the same Apple silicon chips.Touchscreen trouble
Yet not everything in Gurman’s report feels like it’s on the money. In particular, we’re retreading familiar ground when it comes to touchscreen Macs, as Apple has repeatedly said that it doesn’t want to make this kind of device.
There are a few reasons for that. First, Apple has been saying for years that it thinks touchscreen laptops are an ergonomic nightmare. And secondly, this would be extremely expensive tech to research.
