A blown up iPhone, not the next Mac

Federico Viticci: Headless Macs and Hamstrung iPads

In a funny twist of fate, Apple spent years trying to make iPadOS catch up to macOS on the surface, only for macOS’ underlying nature to unlock a new generation of apps that are rewriting the rules of modern software. No amount of windowing and menu bars can change the fact that neither Claude Cowork nor Codex will ever be possible on the current version of iPadOS.

For the last couple of years, I have made the point that pretty much every meaningful update to iPadOS feels like a collection of features designed to make it behave more like a Mac. Yet, despite these efforts, those who love the Mac, including myself, a lapsed iPad-only user, still are not making the switch to the tablet. The feeling I have had for a while now is that, try as it might, the iPad is stuck in an asymptotic update flow. It gets ever closer to the Mac with each software release, but it will never actually get there.

I think it's reasonable to say that fifteen years ago, the iPad was where more software innovation was happening compared to the Mac. Today, however, we've moved onto a new era. As Federico points out, it feels like iPadOS has recently been playing catch-up with the macOS of a few years ago. Meanwhile, there has been considerable innovation and change in software on the Mac, widening the gap between the two platforms once again for a lot of people.

The critical thing to recognize is that this wave of innovation on the Mac did not happen because Apple released some big macOS update and told developers they were finally allowed to do these things. The fundamental nature of macOS enabled these new use cases without Apple needing to do anything at all. Not everyone is interested in this kind of cutting-edge software, and that is fine. But if you are someone who is interested in what the frontier of software is doing today, you can get all of it on the Mac right now.

Put another way, if you want something to change about macOS, you look for someone who's changed it already, or you build it yourself. If you want something in iPadOS to change, you make a wish list for next year's WWDC.

Earlier this year, I stirred the pot a bit when I suggested that Apple should just call the operating systems on the iPhone and iPad the exact same thing. When you combine this with Apple's own move towards calling their platform updates, "our OS 27 updates", along with the fundamental nature of how iPadOS works, I feel even more confident in that suggestion. Despite all the aesthetic shifts, which I do genuinely think are good on the whole, the iPad is kinda back to what it was when it first released back in 2010: a blown-up iPhone.

Don't take this the wrong way, some people want that experience. As iPad fans will quickly point out, Macs and Windows computers have more going on and there are people who never got on with those computers that click with iPads, and that's great. What I'm saying is that the iPad is very much like an iPhone in that innovation is controlled by what Apple allows to exist. That's how the iPhone works, it's not how the Mac works.