Advances in Apple’s iPadOS 15 announced at WWDC might let you replace your laptop with an iPad, but if you do demanding work, the software will hold you back.
For the longest time, Apple has confidently claimed that the iPad can replace your laptop, and for the longest time, that simply wasn’t true. But after yesterday’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) announcements about changes coming in iPadOS 15, we are starting to think Apple might actually be coming closer. That is because most people, whether they mainly use a tablet or a laptop, do not need a huge amount of power — they need a capable work and leisure machine. With iPadOS 15, particularly its notes and multitasking features, we are finally at a point where the iPad fills that role admirably. But even with all the excellent developments at WWDC, it still has a long way to go for many users. The iPad Pro is the best tablet that money can buy, and its cheaper iPad siblings are not far behind. But the thing that makes them so class-leading is their blazing-fast hardware. As was so dramatically demonstrated with the M1 chip, Apple’s silicon team is leagues ahead of the chasing pack. Yet the iPad’s software has always held it back. Apple took an age to bring support for mice and keyboards to its tablets, and the iPad still lacks the kind of window management chops that are ancient history on the Mac. It is a disparity that has not been lost on iPad users. At WWDC, though, Apple closed the gap a little more. There was no eureka moment, but the changes announced at Apple’s developer show might have finally tipped iPadOS over the precipice of laptop replacement. For example, you can now work with multiple windows of the same app, something iPadOS has desperately needed for years. What’s more, Apple made it easy to manage these windows with its ‘shelf’ system, averting the worry that you might lose track of them with too many open. Universal Control, meanwhile, was one of the best features announced. It lets you seamlessly move between your Mac and your iPad, dragging and dropping files from one screen to another.
