Apple is expected to unveil the next major phase of iPadOS at its annual developer conference in June 2021. The company is set to hold its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) as an online only event, similar to last year, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The iPad has never been closer to the Mac as it is today and major updates to the iPadOS are incoming.
At the ‘Special Event’ held in April, Apple announced the new iPad Pro which is powered by the M1 chip. Last year, the company revealed its plans to transition the Mac from Intel to its own in-house designed silicon and M-series is the result of that. It was previously speculated that the M-series would be exclusive to the Mac but Apple has proved that wrong. The iPad has never been more powerful – it uses the same chip found in the MacBook Air, the base model MacBook Pro, the Mac mini, and the newly launched 24” iMac.
“Pro” apps required to take advantage of the hardware
Since the introduction of the 2018 iPad Pro, Apple has been touting the lineup as a laptop replacement. While it is powerful, supports the use of keyboard & mouse, the software is very lacking in terms of supporting the “Pro” grade apps most people require. The Magic Keyboard which was unveiled last year, added proper laptop-like ergonomics but it’s still very expensive and not as good as the keyboard offered by Microsoft with its Surface Pro.
The iPad Pro is at a very weird stage where it’s neither a laptop nor a tablet. It can do more than what a tablet is capable of but it cannot do everything a laptop is capable of. Apple has said multiple times that it does not plan to fuse macOS and iPadOS together but it might be wise to revisit the thought.
