First, I’m not a fan of MKBHD. I only heard what he had to say about the iPadOS because Fernando Silva, a YouTube channel that I actually do like, was reacting to one of his videos. But I heard Marques repeat a theory that I disagree with. Which is that Apple handicaps the iPad to protect their Mac business.
Why would anyone think that Apple intentionally handicaps one business to protect another? Phil Schiller has already explicitly stated that Apple believes every product line is going to have to fight for it’s reason to survive because Apple isn’t going to protect it. Apple isn’t going to handicap the Apple Watch for the iPhone’s sake, or stunt the iPhone for the iPad, nor will they hold back the iPad for the Mac.
The iPad business is already larger than the Mac. If anything, Apple would stunt the Mac business to protect the iPad. Apple might bring in more gross margin dollars at the per unit level on a Mac. But on a percentage basis and total absolute dollars, I would argue that the iPad business handily beats the Mac. If I didn’t believe that Apple is against product line turf battles, I could make the case that Apple is holding back Mac touch interface to protect their larger more profitable iPad business.
Apple recognizes that the tablet business is the future but they are in an awkward situation with the Mac similar to General Motors and Cadillac. Meaning that the legacy business still has a large and very profitable market but it is going to shrink in the future. The Mac is Apple’s Cadillac. GM’s problem with the Cadillac is that their customers are aging. Apple’s problem with the Mac is that most people don’t really need laptops any more.
Sure, some people might make the argument that the Mac sales figures don’t bear this out. But Apple realizes that the sales bumps from the pandemic and the new M1 chip aren’t going to last forever. And the fact that Mac software design progress has been slow to nil in the past 48 months shows that Apple agrees with me. And where it has changed, it has been made to resemble iOS more. iOS apps and iOS style shortcuts, iOS style messaging are all now on the Mac. Even the hardware is built more like a tablet. Sorry, but the M1 is slowly morphing a Mac into an iPad.
As I’ve mentioned before, if Apple intended the iPad to be just a larger iPhone, they would’ve never forked the operating system off into iPadOS. So what is holding it back from making any large changes like better external monitor support?
Apple has demonstrated in the past that lack of visible change isn’t indicative of the amount of work going on in the background. Remember when everyone thought the Mac Pro was dead? And Samsung was on their 3rd iteration of their watch before Apple finally launched their Apple Watch. Rumors of bringing the trackpad to the iPad started in 2015 but they didn’t do it until 4 years later. In fact, the longer you see no change, the bigger the eventual change will be.
I believe that Apple is working on a major redesign of iPadOS. One that will impact how the Home Screen works, the way that windows are displayed, multi-tasking functionality, and icon organization. It’s all going to change. But in typical Apple fashion, they are going to take as much time as they need and not rush to get it out.
When Apple brought cursor support to the iPad. They didn’t simply mimic the Mac. They leap-frogged it. They rethought what was being done and tried to improve upon it. It worked. One of the reasons that I love using my iPad Pro more than a MacBook is the delightful new cursor support paradigm.
But Apple is doing this on a much grander scale with everything else. They are rethinking how windows work, how icons work, how desktops should work. And that takes time.
When will they finally unveil what they’ve been working on? Your guess is as good as mine. But I gotta think it’s gonna be sooner rather than later.
The iPad business is already larger than the Mac. If anything, Apple would stunt the Mac business to protect the iPad. Apple might bring in more gross margin dollars at the per unit level on a Mac. But on a percentage basis and total absolute dollars, I would argue that the iPad business handily beats the Mac. If I didn’t believe that Apple is against product line turf battles, I could make the case that Apple is holding back Mac touch interface to protect their larger more profitable iPad business.
Apple recognizes that the tablet business is the future but they are in an awkward situation with the Mac similar to General Motors and Cadillac. Meaning that the legacy business still has a large and very profitable market but it is going to shrink in the future. The Mac is Apple’s Cadillac. GM’s problem with the Cadillac is that their customers are aging. Apple’s problem with the Mac is that most people don’t really need laptops any more.
Sure, some people might make the argument that the Mac sales figures don’t bear this out. But Apple realizes that the sales bumps from the pandemic and the new M1 chip aren’t going to last forever. And the fact that Mac software design progress has been slow to nil in the past 48 months shows that Apple agrees with me. And where it has changed, it has been made to resemble iOS more. iOS apps and iOS style shortcuts, iOS style messaging are all now on the Mac. Even the hardware is built more like a tablet. Sorry, but the M1 is slowly morphing a Mac into an iPad.
As I’ve mentioned before, if Apple intended the iPad to be just a larger iPhone, they would’ve never forked the operating system off into iPadOS. So what is holding it back from making any large changes like better external monitor support?
Apple has demonstrated in the past that lack of visible change isn’t indicative of the amount of work going on in the background. Remember when everyone thought the Mac Pro was dead? And Samsung was on their 3rd iteration of their watch before Apple finally launched their Apple Watch. Rumors of bringing the trackpad to the iPad started in 2015 but they didn’t do it until 4 years later. In fact, the longer you see no change, the bigger the eventual change will be.
I believe that Apple is working on a major redesign of iPadOS. One that will impact how the Home Screen works, the way that windows are displayed, multi-tasking functionality, and icon organization. It’s all going to change. But in typical Apple fashion, they are going to take as much time as they need and not rush to get it out.
When Apple brought cursor support to the iPad. They didn’t simply mimic the Mac. They leap-frogged it. They rethought what was being done and tried to improve upon it. It worked. One of the reasons that I love using my iPad Pro more than a MacBook is the delightful new cursor support paradigm.
But Apple is doing this on a much grander scale with everything else. They are rethinking how windows work, how icons work, how desktops should work. And that takes time.
When will they finally unveil what they’ve been working on? Your guess is as good as mine. But I gotta think it’s gonna be sooner rather than later.
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