Will Apple ever Ship OS X on an iPad?

By roosevelt
in Apple (macOS)

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roosevelt

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Hey Mac Lovers,

I am a huge fan of the OSX operating system and find it more useful than iOS for my needs. iOS is doing rather well for the amount of time it existed as opposed to OSX.

Since, MS revealed Surface Book and Surface Pro 4, I am seriously considering a Windows device for an upgrade to my iPad Air. iPad Pro looks awesome but it doesn't come with OSX, hence my drive to find the perfect solution.

Essentially, I actually like and agree with MS where a tablet and laptop can function as one. When I do office work, I prefer a laptop like device and when I do painting or drawing, I prefer a tablet with a pen. iPad Pro w/ Smart Keyboard and MS Surface line fits that bill just perfectly.

As a Mac User, I am used to some of the flexibility OSX has to offer but it isn't available on an iPad -_-

Will iPad ever support OS X? Or perhaps an iOS upgrade that actually makes it possible to run OSX Apps? That would be cool!

What are your thoughts?

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shockz

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I don't believe so. OS X isn't designed with touch in mind. Apple has made it almost a marketing point saying they have two dedicated OSes. One for touch mobile devices, the other for traditional computers. What's more likely is that each iteration of iOS will introduce OS X features, but I doubt we'll ever see full fledged OS X on an iDevice.

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Astra.Xtreme

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I agree that it wouldn't be a good experience since it's not touch friendly.  Though you could argue that Windows on a Surface isn't exactly the best experience with pure touch.  When you pair a keyboard and mouse/touchpad with it, then it makes a lot more sense.

Who knows.  That probably is the next logical step for Apple to explore.  It would come in at a higher price point than a traditional iPad, but less than a Macbook.  The comparison of it to a Surface would then make more sense, though the Surface would still be the more convenient device.

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bandit_liberty_rumble

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It's a shame though. I'd love it if I was able to use OS X on an iPad Pro once a Magic  keyboard & trackpad is connected. The touch input from the display could simply be disabled at that point. There'd be lots of messy problems to solve before that could happen though lest you get a fairly compromised package. I'm not sure Microsoft has actually done so.

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Brian M. Veteran

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I hope not, tbh.

Every time I've tried a desktop OS on a tablet/touch screen it's been a horrific experience. But in 10/15 years? Who knows. I highly doubt we'll be using devices with the current form factors then, so maybe we'll see one hybrid which is actually usable.

Every hybrid I've used has been more "worst of both worlds" rather than the best of both.

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oldtimefighter

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But in 10/15 years? Who knows.

You have never heard of the Microsoft Surface? They are really popular and run full Windows.

I have a Nexus 7 and it's OK for content consumption and controlling my Cromecast but like my next tablet to be bigger and have a keyboard so can do real work on it. I am waiting to see what Surface alternatives come out that are more reasonable in price.

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Brian M. Veteran

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You have never heard of the Microsoft Surface? They are really popular and run full Windows.

I have a Nexus 7 and it's OK for content consumption and controlling my Cromecast but like my next tablet to be bigger and have a keyboard so can do real work on it. I am waiting to see what Surface alternatives come out that are more reasonable in price.

 

I've used a surface, and I actually have a little Windows 10 tablet, but I just feel that trying to poke things that are still designed for a mouse is tricky (no matter how optimised the OS is, the vast majority of apps won't be).

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The_Decryptor Veteran

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I very much doubt it, iOS is way more locked down than OS X is, and that's a benefit for Apple. Having OS X would either require them to allow normal OS X apps, or block them and have a even more limited selection of apps.

Basically what happened with Windows RT.

Apple has shown no interest in opening up iOS, that's a much bigger indicator than having a touch interface or whatever (Look at how Windows 10 handles touch compared to Windows 8, there's a difference)

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Gotenks98

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I don't believe so. OS X isn't designed with touch in mind. Apple has made it almost a marketing point saying they have two dedicated OSes. One for touch mobile devices, the other for traditional computers. What's more likely is that each iteration of iOS will introduce OS X features, but I doubt we'll ever see full fledged OS X on an iDevice.

Yes but slowly but surely these 2 OSes are looking more and more alike with each version. I remember how they said that there will never be a stylus and now we have one in the iPad pro. Give it another 5 years they will have to conform to whatever their user base wants. You can only keep remaking the same product over and over again until the competition takes in your ideas on their hardware/OS. Once that happens they have to change to keep up with the competition. My prediction will be that we get a touch screen MBP that can detach and flip around just like the surface book and includes a pen. This hardware will run OSX and will have the ability to run iOS apps through some kind of built in hyper-visor or some coding change.

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Gotenks98

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so....  a Modbook?

Yep, thats the way things are headed. I would be bold enough to say we will eventually get iPhones in the next 10 years or so that can be plugged into say a thunderbolt display and become a full fledged Mac. The whole point of Apple is to simplify things for their users. Slimming it down as far as it goes would be to do it to one device. I think Microsoft did get that right with their new phone however its about 15 years too late to ever get any real market share. I think apple on the other hand could easily take this idea and run with it to make a huge impact because they already have the user base and apps to do it.

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Order_66

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IMO Apple doesn't have much of an excuse for not offering OS X on an ipad, the surface as well as the many convertibles out there prove that point by easily running full desktop windows, some with minimal hardware like the Asus transformer or the Acer convertibles.

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+Warwagon MVC

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Nope, because they want to keep everyone happy. They want to keep their desktop and laptop customers happy and they want to keep their iPad customers happy. Its why they have happy customers.

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PGHammer

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A MacPad is quite possible - or have we forgotten about LaunchPad?  LaunchPad dates back to SnowLeopard, and supports touch - which the "Hack" community discovered (by accident) quite early.  There's a ton of overlap between LaunchPad and the default OS X interface (just as there is between the Windows 10 Control Panel and PC Settings).  It is precisely due to LaunchPad that I have wondered about the lack of touch-screen iMacs and MacBooks - don't assume that because Apple has NOT done something that it can't - how long did Apple keep OS X on x86 under wraps?

Besides, there IS the Modbook - which is actually based on a MacBook with hardware mods, and dual-boots (legally) OS X and Windows 10.  http://www.modbook.com/

It's based on the MacBook to specifically deal with the Apple EULA (which restricts OS X to Apple hardware) - despite that we in the "hack" community having pointed out that the EULA is, at best, a legal stall, and means exactly squat from a technical standpoint.

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DeadEndAccount

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If you really want a more capable device then you're better off waiting for the iPad Pro and seeing how iOS matures or maybe investigating the Surface Pro 4/Surface Book - a lot of positive reviews have come back regarding it and because it is crapware free right out of the box the experience should be a lot better than through a third party.

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oldtimefighter

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I've used a surface, and I actually have a little Windows 10 tablet, but I just feel that trying to poke things that are still designed for a mouse is tricky (no matter how optimised the OS is, the vast majority of apps won't be).

 

What are you talking about? The Surface keyboard has a mouse pointer built-in so no need to be raising your hands or getting fingerprints on your screen... You only need touch screens really on tablets (but full Windows doesn't work well on small tablets) and phones.

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