If a Mac already meets your needs, why would Apple also design the iPad to meet those same needs? Is it not possible that the iPad is designed to meet other needs and purposes?
While it’s true that Apple will canibalise one product to the benefit of another (such as the iPhone replacing the iPod), in this case the iPad allows Apple to reach a lot of customers that a Mac does not. The fact that the iPad moves about as many units as Macs do suggests that this is a sound strategy, and if that’s true, then designing a future iPad that serves the same needs as the Mac is only likely to reduce the sales of both product lines.
This doesn’t suggest it’s a sound strategy to me, or that an iPad which closes the gap on the Mac would reduce the sales of both. The Halo effect on apple products is massive. People buy one product and then many go on to buy further products, iPhones, Watches, AirPods and even Macs. A more Capable iPad wouldn’t necessarily cannibalise the Mac, it may bolster it and bring even more switchers, especially with how good the Mac Mini and MacBook Air products are.
Apple continues to claim that a high percentage of buyers (on iphone at least) are switchers, imagine the market still out there for users.
Apple also treats the iPad line as one product, and this is what muddies the water. The Pro Devices are a cut above the standard iPad, the iPad Mini is (in all but name) an iPad Pro, and the 9th Gen iPad is lagging behind the iPad 10th Gen. Then iPad Air is in no mans land and so close to the iPad 10th Gen that they look very similar (except for the camera placement), and the iPad Pro 11” doesn’t look that far from either the iPad 10th Gen or the iPad Air.
Apple needs to differentiate the iPad Pro even further and make them capable, make them truly tools which pros can use out and about, and then return to their macs at the end of the day. Make a 15” or 17” iPad which can be a drawing table and never leave the office, but can also do many other things.
Apple Silicon has made so many things possible, Apple aren’t making the most of it on the iPad.
You’ve muddied the waters in your summary. This whole thing I’m seeing about the confusing iPad line-up seems… confused itself. Let me fix it.
iPad 9th gen: The budget iPad, old tech.
iPad 10th gen: One step up to cover another price point. Better processor, larger screen, new Touch ID. This form factor is the future.
These two iPads remind me of the MacBook Air M1 and M2. Older form factor to cover a lower price point.
iPad Mini is most definitely not Pro. It lacks FaceID and M series processor. Better to think of it as being in the Air Line-up
iPad Air is the step between. Another price point. Lacks FaceID and large 12.9" but has the M1
The iPad Pro: Optional larger screen size, M2, more memory, FaceID. The only confusing thing here was Apple not having both models be miniLED. That should have been used in both to keep them in parity.
It’s all about price points, it’s really not complicated.
Use case examples:
My mom, dad and aunt all have the 9th/10th gen. That’s all they need for Facebook, messaging, email, photos, web browsing. They never use split screen. These would also be the choice for families that have kids.
iPad Air - This is my uncle who wants a bit more than the iPad but doesn’t really need much more. He does basically the same stuff but has more money to spend. But if I were on a tighter budget I could get by with the Air.
iPad Pro - Me. I use the Afffinity Apps and multi task all day. I want more memory and the 12.9" screen.
With the best processor and more memory, the Pro is a step up from the Air, this is the best choice for Affinity or Adobe apps, Luma Fusion, DeVinci Resolve, Final Cut, Logic. Some of these apps will all run on other iPads but will run best on the Pros.
Is the 11" iPad Pro needed? I think an argument can be made that with real external display support it has a place. It’s smaller and lighter on the go but plug it in to a big screen and the smart screen is suddenly far less relevant. I’ve thought about this for myself. But my eyesight is not what it once was so I really appreciate the bigger screen. And I do enough with Affinity Publisher that I want to be able to do that on the iPad itself.
But that line-up is not that difficult to understand. As I’ve pointed out elsewhere and briefly above in this thread, the Mac line-up is far from simple. If we want to talk about a line-up being complicated, well, I think it would be far easier to talk about Macs.
MacBook Air, M1 and M2, Different processors, screen tech, body forms.
MacBook Pro that not only comes in different sized screens but processors that range from M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max.
What??? What is this confused mess and we’re only still dealing with the laptops. And already I have to decide between different cases, screens, screen sizes and a MacBook Pro that comes with a Max processor?
But oh, oh, wait, now we have to understand the desktop line-up.
The iMac. Okay, not much confusing about this other than it is yet another Mac model to list in a long list. But it’s use case is: It’s a pretty and powerful computer for the home or office.
The Mac Mini? Why does this exist? Why not just get a Mac Studio or an iMac?
The Mac Studio? Why not just get a Mac Mini. Oh my, the confusion of these two models that overlap.
The Mac Pro??!! Not another desktop computer. Why not just the Mac Studio?
Look at that desktop lineup!! M2 (pro, max, ultra), M3. So 4 form factors, 4 processors??? This is chaos! Out of control!
And please, let’s remember, the Mac line-up includes both desktops and laptops. Someone catch me, it’s too much and I’m feeling faint.
But seriously, I mean, come on. How could anyone look at the Mac and iPad line-ups and come to the conclusion that it’s the iPad line-up that is confusing?
I would argue that both line-ups offer many choices to cover different use cases and price points. Far more is being made of this than needs to be.
This is a non-issue made-up during the slow news cycle.
I’m coming to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter whether either line is more complicated than it needs to be, at least for the kind of users who hang out here. It can be a bit confusing for non-techie buyers, but for those who spend time researching the options it’s fine, and probably better to have more choices.
What does matter are the artificial limitations Apple places on iPadOS and the inability to pull the (touch)screen off a MacBook Air as you can with many ultraportable Windows laptops and Chromebooks, which limit the versatility of both iPads and MacBook Airs.
That’s from a user standpoint. From Apple’s standpoint those limitations are features, not bugs, because you need to buy two products from them instead of one if you want a touchscreen device larger than a phone and a fully capable ultraportable laptop.
Right, yeah, maybe I didn’t write it clearly. But that’s why I compared to the iPads. The M1 MacBook Air is still being sold as the budget Mac laptop with old form factor/screen. The M2 has new screen/form factor.
Generally agreed. Sure, Apple loves users to buy one of everything.
But! I think the next few years will be very interesting. My perception of the Mac and macOS is that this is a proven, mature OS.
But with VisonOS being based on iPadOS, it opens up some new possibilities for the iPad. For example, I don’t think it would be too out of the box to suggest the iPad Pro might get better front facing cameras capable of doing eye tracking and finger gestures. Or that it will get the Mac screen sharing that VisonOS has.
While iPadOS is still not macOS it get’s closer each year. The Files app in iPadOS17 is far, far closer to the Mac Finder than it was in iPadOS 14.
What will iPadOS be in 3 or 4 years? What gaps between it and macOS will remain? Much has changed in iPadOS in the past 4 years and more will come. All of this takes time. I’d guess that building Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for the iPad took years. And I’d guess some sort of Xcode is in the works as well.
Lastly, I think it’s going to be on the iPad side that we see the most interesting hardware innovation (excluding AVP). Lol, yes, I’m going to link to another post that I wrote in response to Jason Snell’s post about Apple getting weird:
Here’s my pitch for a new iPad Studio. Hang with me for a minute because this is, well, weird.
The M series board, battery and everything that we now know as an iPad is not behind a screen. It’s a keyboard. It’s the base where most of the weight is. And it has more ports.
The touch screen would be thinner and lighter than what we now know as an iPad. It would also have a battery just for the screen and the most minimal hardware to connect the two wirelessly. Dock the screen to the keyboard to charge the screen and Pencil. Use it docked as a laptop. Remove the screen to use it as a tablet. Hold it, put it in a raised stand, walk around within the wireless range of the base unit. It’s thinner and lighter when used hand held. This is the mobile screen for the laptop form factor. Comes as a 13 and 15".
Add-on accessory: a 24" desktop touch screen for graphic design that has a base unit that allows it to fold down for use as a graphics tablet or positioned upright as a traditional screen. Or use it with any future Apple Studio Display.
That’s not how SOME people think about or buy Macs. There are MANY people who buy Macs in exactly this way. Students that want a laptop that are not full blown Apple nerds being a good example. Going off to college, just need a laptop they can afford.
Average humans that are not nerds that just want a computer and want a Mac probably just buy on price point/form factor.
My uncle did this very thing two years ago. He wanted the least expensive desktop Mac he could get. He bought an M1 Mini to use with a cheap display. 22 years ago my dad did the same but he wanted a Mac laptop, “cheap as I can get”. He didn’t care about the specs at all and got a MBA. My niece in college did the same 7 years ago.
Until all my files are fully accessible with any app I choose and I can use any cloud provider to sync and perform backups, an iPad won’t begin to be able to replace a MacBook for me.
walk around within the wireless range of the base unit.
That would be a pretty severe limitation for most people who need a tablet.
Sure, but when THOSE people get a Mac on their desk, they have a how the heck do I use this thing? moment. Where did my window go? Right click or left click? Where is my home folder? What do you mean I have to back it up? The sound doesn’t work. etc. etc.
I don’t think the people who buy iPads have that moment, given all the anecdotes about 83-year-iold grandmas picking them up more or less intuitively.
Macs may have been intuitive at one time, but they sure aren’t today.
By this yardstick, I think the iPad is amazing. It makes 83-year-old grandmas and demanding web developers like you (mostly) happy.
And that name, “Pro.” I’m convinced that “Pro” sells upgrades to the base-model MacBook Pro from the MacBook Air since it “seems better” - even though the hardware is substantially identical. It’s a perceived status thing.
I broadly agree with your post but this statement is wrong in my opinion.
Macs are more intuitive and user friendly than they have ever been. The problem is that they’re now compared with much more user friendly computers like iPhones and iPads. When people think about Macs historically being more intuitive it’s in the context of other devices at the time. At the beginning it’s in the context of command line interfaces, needing to know what commands to run and the syntax required. Most users, hell even most power users, can feasibly go their entire lives without having to use the console on a modern computer (of any flavour, even Linux at this point). You still have to learn new things if you’re new to a Mac in 2024. You probably don’t have to learn much to pick up and use an iPad for the first time (even presuming you never used an iPhone).
My mother still to this day refuses to use a desktop or laptop computer, but she managed her entire job from an iPad for years.
Macs have not gotten more difficult to use, we’re just less tolerant of having to learn how to use a computer after nearly 20 years of just being able to pick up a screen and tap on the thing we want to happen.
There has always been a knowledge barrier to entry when using a desktop computer.
A lot of what’s called intuitive in computing is based on familiarity and ease of learning. A lot of those 83 year old grandmas find iPads intuitive because they’re already using smartphones.
Macs have an obvious layer on top that’s easy to understand and pick up, especially for those who’ve used computers before: the dock, the traffic light window controls, the drop down menus, etc. Then there’s all the power user stuff that you have to look up and spend time learning, all the way down to the Unix shell.
I think you’re broadly right here. People spending potentially upwards of a month’s salary will often just want “the best one”, and that’s fine. Very few people agonise over their choice like members of this forum do.
I also think a lot of people buy MacBooks by target screen size. I think a 15" (or in that area) MacBook Air would capture a lot of the market for 16" Pros where folks are buying more computer than they need because it’s the only option with a screen of that size.
And there’s a status component. People will absolutely buy the more expensive version to be seen with the more expensive version. This can be particularly true in the corporate world, ironically, where IT departments want to be as cost efficient as possible but executives want to be seen as having greater resources to spend.
Also, and this isn’t to be underestimated, most of those people are looking at the one on the shelf - particularly at a third-party retailer like Best Buy. “Should I buy more RAM or more SSD?” isn’t even a question for them, because they don’t know that either is possible.
At the entry level, yes. If they dropped the budget MBP that’s basically an Air with a different form factor, it would actually be meaningful IMHO.
I disagree about the intuitiveness of today’s Macs. From gestures … to every square inch of a modern Mac screen just an errant click away from a maze of choices … to the complexity of the System Settings app … to the cloud, etc., etc.
A good way to tell is if you were in a position to provide tech support for one or both parents and you’ve been able to watch them adopt both a Mac and an iPad/iPhone.
I’ve been doing tech support for my Dad since I gave him my old white plastic MacBook, then a 2009 iMac, and now an M1 iMac (which he bought himself).
Except people who buy high spec hardware aren’t necessarily professionals. Gaming rigs are a good example. And a lawyer or business person who travels extensively and needs a lightweight laptop rather than powerful processing, heat-dissipating fans, and a ton of RAM is clearly a professional.
