Why we’ll see Apple’s OS X-powered ‘MacPad’ tablet within two years
“Apple says it’s not going to happen, but I think we’ll see a tablet running Mac OS X within two years,” Dennis Sellers writes for Apple World Today. “Why? The decline in annual tablet shipments reached double digits for the first time on record in 2015, according to TrendForce. A Mac tablet (the MacPad?) could re-invigorate sales for Apple.”
“The problem isn’t the hardware. The iPad Pro’s A9X chip is beefy enough,” Sellers writes. “The problem is that iOS simply isn’t nearly as good at multitasking as OS X. For example, it doesn’t support overlapping, movable, resizable windows from multiple apps.”
“Why not simply release a tablet with OS X that’s been updated with touchscreen support?” Sellers writes. “This would offer the best of both worlds (OS X and a touch screen) on a Mac tablet that could easily double as a laptop by attaching a future generation version of the Smart Keyboard.”
MacDailyNews Take: Technically, iOS is “OS X that’s been updated with touchscreen support.” What Dennis Sellers really wants is that with which he’s become comfortable: a traditional file system; an iOS Finder. What you really have to see is anyone under the age of 12, largely untainted by previous computing paradigms, using an iPad. That is the future, not porting anachronisms to iPads.
That said, as we’ve asked many times over the past few years: Anyone in the market for a 12.9-inch device that’s an OS X-powered MacBook when docked with its keyboard base and an iOS-powered iPad when undocked?
Illustration from Apple’s hybrid Mac-iPad patent application
