Revenge of the Mac: Is There Room for the iPad in this Brave New (Post-WWDC) World?

What just happened? I know it has been a tick since WWDC but I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that was announced. Everything has, or is about to change in substantial ways. A monumental shift in the Mac is underway. Before the year is over, the Mac will have undergone a transformation that will challenge almost everything we know about the platform.

What interests me is how aggressively Apple is driving the Mac toward a collision course with the iPad. This can’t end well for one of those platforms. It is easy to anthropomorphize these devices due to the personal connection many of us have with our tech.

I can imagine the Mac feeling insulted year after year as the iPad got all the attention and all the plaudits. The iPad broke sales records while the Mac shrank. The iPad got the exciting updates while the Mac got what trickled down from the iPad. The iPad gets all the cool accessories while the Mac… You get the idea.

We get the sense that the Mac has been in its little closet plotting its revenge. And this year’s WWDC was the moment when that revenge was unleashed. So great was its fury, I along with many other Apple watchers am wondering if there will be a place for the iPad in the months to come. Let’s explore:

Apple Silicon

Sorry nerds. This is not going to be a low-level examination of Intel versus ARM. I don’t have the technical proficiency for such an examination, nor do I possess the give-a-damn. But I do understand it at the 50,000’ level. Intel is practically at a standstill with a rubbish roadmap. Apple cannot push the Mac forward reliably while relying on Intel. So they had to do something.

What they did was turn to their own chip team which was already firing on all cylinders and asked the question we all have been asking for sometime: Could Apple make its own chips for the Mac. Clearly, the answer is a resounding YES! The iPad Pro has been outperforming the Mac for some time. For Apple, this was both a point of pride and a point of embarrassment.

Mac’s revenge was to raid the iPad bunker and steal its chips. As of later this year, there will be Macs for sale powered by the same chipmaker that supplies the iPads. Apple Silicon is already ahead of current Macs in some ways. Also, Apple has been working on producing desktop chips in secret for some time. According to leaked benchmarks, the A12X in the iPad running the Mac in emulation is almost as fast as shipping Macs. Whatever Apple Silicon Apple includes in the first ARM Macs will destroy all equally-classed Intel Macs and PCs. We know that because the iPad Pro already does that. Speed freaks rejoice!

What this means is that if you want the fastest most powerful computing experience, you are not going to want an iPad. You are going to want a Mac. To be clear, Macs have not had that boast for a while. I have no doubt that late 2020 Macs are going to rewrite consumer/prosumer computing benchmarks.

Apps

One of the advantages the iPad has over other tablets is that it has the largest bespoke app library. There are more apps designed specifically for the iPad than for any alternative, full-featured platform. There are millions of apps that will run on the iPad with over a million specifically designed for iPad. Once the new Macs start shipping, that advantage will belong to the iPad no longer.

New Macs will be able to run Mac apps (old and new), iPad apps (unmodified), and iPhone apps. No other platform will have access to a larger and more current app armada. All of a sudden, the Mac is where you want to be if you are into third-party apps. You will not need an iPad to run iPad and iPhone apps. However, you will not be able to run Mac apps on the iPad. Mac’s revenge doesn’t stop with chips and apps:

(Speculative) Touch Screens and Form Factors

Think about all those iPhone and iPad apps running on the Mac. Question: How exactly are they supposed to run on the Mac? Everyone of those apps were made for touchscreen operation. There are no touchscreen Macs.

To be fair, it is possible for them to run on a Mac via a trackpad or mouse. We know this because all iPads now have trackpad and mouse support. All iPad apps work via pointer support without modification. They don’t all work well. But they do work. One expects the same experience is possible on the Mac.

Here’s the thing: Apple is going to be playing up app compatibility heavily. It will be a major selling point for the new crop of Macs. How could it not? Those apps will be unmodified for the Mac and Apple is going to want those apps to provide a first-class experience. Forget what they have said in the past. I predict the new Macs will usher in the era of touchscreen Macs.

Now think about the laptop form-factor. PC manufacturers have shown that with a bit of tweaking, you can have great hardware that allows for both traditional use and touch. It is a safe bet that Apple can do it even better. I expect touchscreen Macs no later than 2021.

At that point, you will no longer need to get an iPad for a thin and light convertible. The Mac will be able to do it all - one moment a laptop, and the next a tablet running all available tablet apps. What would be the point of buying an iPad that can only be an iPad when you will be able to buy a convertible Mac that is both iPad and Mac? Mac’s revenge will be complete.

Conclusion: Whither the iPad?

I love the iPad. There will always be a place for a small tablet in my life. Regardless whatever whiz-bang new Mac convertible Apple produces, I will always want an iPad mini at my bedside and in my daily carry.

That said, I will not always want a larger tablet for mobile computing. I want the best tool for the job. I also want a fun gadget. (I’m a nerd, too.) Frankly, it knocked me for a loop when Apple announced the new Macs will run all iOS apps out of the box. They didn’t have to do that. If the iPad were a separate company, I would say Apple just fired a shot across its bow.

Whoever is driving the Mac just ordered “Fire everything!”. The iPad is not going to get out of the way in time. I am having a failure of imagination with regard to the future of the iPad. I don’t see what Apple can possibly do for that platform that would make me want to keep investing in it once the new Macs arrive. If your imagination is better than mine, let me know in the comments. What can Apple do to keep the iPad viable in the era of Apple Silicon Macs?

David Johnson