What’s an iPad?
April 30, 2026
Craig Mod, in a recent essay:
Your hands should be swooping and swiping and the whole OS should feel like skipping across a taut slackline, a bit bouncy and pleasing and physical but also precise and quick and focused taking you where you need to go, across some creative gulf. There should be no “hard edges” anywhere. iPadOS shouldn’t be anything like Windows or macOS or Linux, it shouldn’t be iOS made big, it should be only like iPadOS — a singular thing of finger-poking joy.
The iPad, as Apple’s most versatile product, has always felt a bit lost in the wilderness with its identity. Years ago, prior to the Mac’s transition to Apple Silicon, I adored the idea of the iPad supplanting the Mac as the one true computer. Many did.
The iPad simply felt futuristic — hardware, software, and silicon. The launch of the iPad Pro, and every iteration thereafter has been stunning. If Apple had demoed iPadOS 26 windowing (and display support) back in 2020, that would've been it for me. I would've galloping around the village on my horse declaring the Mac's demise. I'd be the young girl asking myself, what’s a computer?
I believe this bore itself out in reality too, not just in nerd circles. I lived in Chicago at the time and saw a surprising number of people rocking the iPad + Magic Keyboard setup, myself included. (For a long period of time, I didn’t even own a laptop!)
At the time, iPadOS couldn't replace macOS yet, but it sure felt like the writing was on the wall.
What Happened?
Apple Silicon on the Mac happened. Every machine in the Mac line was renovated top-to-bottom. Today, the MacBook Air is just too good. The MacBook Neo is slaughtering the competition. The slow-ass Macs of the Intel era (the ones with wind turbines and shitty keyboards) have been kicked to the curb. Apple Silicon enabled new levels of performance, battery life, and hardware design. Everything that made the iPad futuristic has been rolled into the Mac.
Truth be told, I haven’t spotted an iPad + Magic Keyboard in the wild in years. So, unless you have an iPad-specific use case, who's buying an iPad as their traditional computer?
The iPad's Identity
Like many, I’ve shifted my opinion on what the iPad should be. Or, more specifically, what it should not be. The duplication of the macOS features and user interface on iPadOS is certainly cool — I love to see it. But what’s the point? And more importantly, what’s an iPad?
Fom the commentary I’ve absorbed online, there appear to be a few different ideas:
- The iPad is a a “coffee table computer”. It’s a glorified iOS device that’s great at browsing, watching, and relaxing. This is not a diminishing role — iOS is wonderful, and having it on a big screen is even better. The iPad is the only computer Steve Jobs demoed on stage while sitting in a living room armchair. This was intentional! The iPad has always been destined for this role.
- The iPad is an artist’s workbench, and the Apple Pencil is its signature tool. The iPad is the best in the industry for drawing and illustration.
- The iPad is a bespoke, touch-only device that serves as a playground for wild and experimental new ideas. (This is what Craig Mod argues in the linked post.)
Notably, what I don’t see people clamoring for is the iPad to become a Mac. At least, not anymore. It doesn’t need to be good at editing spreadsheets, writing Python scripts, rendering videos, or organizing files. The iPad is a coffee table computer, an artist’s workbench, and playground for novel touch interfaces.
The Everything Machine
Sure, the Mac-like features are purely additive. They don't take away from the user experience – you don't have to use them! This is not my primary concern. Apple is quite good at progressive disclosure it its user interface. Instead, my worry has more to do with Apple's engineering and internal decisionmaking.
First, Apple is burning its resources. I cannot imagine the Herculean effort it must be to engineer, deploy, and maintain a piece of software like iPadOS — especially as trends toward increased complexity.
Every feature added has an opportunity cost and a long-term maintenance burden. Spending resources on thing A implies not spending resources on thing B.
Second, Apple’s desire to visually unify their operating systems could hold back the Mac. The 26 OSes made this clear: squint hard enough and macOS becomes indistinguishable from iPadOS. Seriously, do it!
These interfaces will likely remain in lockstep. What if the Mac, however, would benefit from less rounded corners and tighter padding? The iPad needs to remain bubbly — the primary input device is your finger. But the Mac has much more room for precision. Is the Mac going to be bound by what the iPad requires? I hope not!
Hard Choices
It would be a remarkably difficult decision for Apple to actually bring focus to the iPad’s identity. It would likely involve removing things that exist today, and possibly even simplifying the hardware lineup.
But I think they should make the hard decision on this. The iPad deserves remarkable clarity and vision in its identity. It should lean into what it’s good at, and not waste time on the rest.