My theory is that Apple, at some point, had a clear(er) vision for iPad development but once Vision Pro development began, they shifted resources to that. And now the iPad seems kinda directionless.
And I know that many people theorize that Apple intends (or intended) to put macOS on iPad. But I disagree. I don’t think Apple would have put in all the work to build out iPadOS in all the ways they did if they intended to scrap it all and out macOS on it later (mouse support, external display support, multitasking, etc.).
Instead I believe that Apple intends to build out iOS/iPadOS into a full desktop operating system and eventually make that available on your iPhone. Basically Samsung Dex but more functional. The iPad is almost there.
Many people say this wouldn’t make sense because Apple would cannibalize Mac sales by doing this. But it actually has a couple advantages. iOS brings in App Store revenue unlike a Mac. And also we can’t assume that every customer currently has an iPhone and a Mac. Lots of people have an iPhone and a garbage $400 windows laptop. So it wouldn’t cannibalize a Mac sale in that case.
You are forgetting that apart from the visuals, they are all the same OS. Apple intentionally disallows running macOS apps on iPads. There is no reason for iPadOS to not support them, or rather the apps not supporting iPadOS.
My theory is that Apple, at some point, had a clear(er) vision for iPad development but once Vision Pro development began, they shifted resources to that. And now the iPad seems kinda directionless.
And I know that many people theorize that Apple intends (or intended) to put macOS on iPad. But I disagree. I don’t think Apple would have put in all the work to build out iPadOS in all the ways they did if they intended to scrap it all and out macOS on it later (mouse support, external display support, multitasking, etc.).
Instead I believe that Apple intends to build out iOS/iPadOS into a full desktop operating system and eventually make that available on your iPhone. Basically Samsung Dex but more functional. The iPad is almost there.
Many people say this wouldn’t make sense because Apple would cannibalize Mac sales by doing this. But it actually has a couple advantages. iOS brings in App Store revenue unlike a Mac. And also we can’t assume that every customer currently has an iPhone and a Mac. Lots of people have an iPhone and a garbage $400 windows laptop. So it wouldn’t cannibalize a Mac sale in that case.
You are forgetting that apart from the visuals, they are all the same OS. Apple intentionally disallows running macOS apps on iPads. There is no reason for iPadOS to not support them, or rather the apps not supporting iPadOS.