iPad Pro at 10

The iPad Pro didn't really change anything - the iPad itself 5 years earlier was the key moment.

I'm surprised Apple didn't keep the more complex multitasking and audio features for the Pro iPads but all newer iPads support those features... which is nice.

Drawing on a 12.9 inch screen feels completely different from drawing on an 11 inch one. Like tabloid / a3 paper instead of letter / a2 size. Expandes the possibilities and mind.

Also, the early pros had more memory, vastly improving multitasking and Slide Over.

The pro’s advantages a slimmer now but LiDAR and other things like that are pretty nice.

Back when he launched the iPad, Steve jobs took aim at a category of devices that had smaller screens than laptops, came with rubberised keyboards instead of clicky laptop ones, and often ran special mobile OSs that could only run a handful of apps, saying of them that

> “They’re slow, they have low quality displays and they run clunky old PC software. They’re not better than a laptop at anything, they’re just cheaper: they’re just cheap laptops. We don’t think they’re a third category device, but we think we’ve got something that is, and we’d like to show it to you today for the first time. And we call it, the iPad,” he said.

Arguably the iPad has evolved to become a Netbook a smaller, less capable laptop that can be configured to be cheaper than one, albeit only if you go with the bad keyboard and cheap model.

Tragically, Apple never really figured out a convincing story for what a third device could be, and instead ended up turning iPad OS into an ersatz MacOS with more restrictions, fewer features, and drastically reduced software availability.

There was some potential for work in the arts, but Apple doesn't court that demographic the way they once did -- and arguably the Microsoft Studio PC gave a better idea of what could be done in that realm anyway.

Funny all these years later the iPad still didn’t change the fact that no one can agree on what a tablet is for. It does seem to have a couple things that it is best at, but none of those are worth thousands of dollars so it still doesn’t quite explain the Pro.

I think practically and strategically one of its best uses is as an Apple device for people who don’t want a Mac or an iPhone. Gives basically full access to the ecosystem without changing phones or computers.

> Tragically, Apple never really figured out a convincing story for what a third device could be, and instead ended up turning iPad OS into an ersatz MacOS with more restrictions, fewer features, and drastically reduced software availability.

For some people that is the story.
My Dad used an iPad from the very first model. He has Pro now and has went through a bunch over the years. He’s a smart guy just not a “tech guy.” Some people like that it’s easy and does just what they need and nothing more. And of course it has the familiarity of your iPhone because it essentially is just an iphone with a bigger screen. To me it doesn’t really make sense to ever buy a pro but who am I to tell pops what to do? If there ever was software I needed to run that required the power of the Pro…well there almost certainly is a Mac version and i’d just use that.

To get compelling software for ipad maybe a reverse Mac Catalyst (AppKit on Mac) would’ve been the way to go. Ipad Does feel like the afterthought platform. It just gets to inherit all those iphone apps but very rarely does an app feel like it was made for iPad (i’m sure there are a few exceptions)

The two main use cases for iPad are:
Babysitting
Phone for people with bad eyesight

@Bart @ObjC4Life Yeah, I think that differing customer base explains why iPad has generally not been a good market for third-party apps.

I don’t think Steve would have wanted the iPad to turn into a Mac… but that’s what we’ve got right now with iOS 26, sadly. I hope they swing back to a more sensible touch-first-optimized tablet interface.

It’s an amazing device that really is its own category — folks saying ‘it’s just a big iPhone’ or ‘it’s just a crippled flat Mac’ are missing out on a lot. Also, a lightweight, portable, but big-screen media consumption machine is exactly what many people wanted (for better or worse) and the iPad is extremely good at. Another industry category created/done best by Apple.

Posted from my Cellular iPad

@Someone else How is the iPad no longer touch-first-optimized? I think the “just a big iPhone” is Apple’s own words coming back to bite them, because they initially talked about how apps should be redesigned for iPad, not just blown up iPhone apps, but then most of their own apps ended up doing just that. If you mostly want media consumption, I don’t really see the advantage of an iPad over other tablets. I think you can even get Apple’s media content on Android now.

Thanks to the iPad, we never got a convertible MacBook or a touchscreen on Macs. It's a net-negative in my book.

I’d say the multitasking windowing system has changed to pointer-device first, and is no longer touch-first (nor easy to use) as of iOS 26.1. I’ve written about that elsewhere, as have many others, so I won’t repeat myself here.

Did Apple ever say ‘it’s just a big iPhone’? I’ve never seen that and would find that hard to believe?

Apple’s apps themselves were special for iPad, too — sidebar navigation, etc… what Apple iPad apps were just blown-up versions of their iPhone? Even Calculator was held back till a couple years ago until they had an iPad version.

Why is iPad better than other tablets? First to high pixel density screen, lightweight, long battery life, easy to use apps and OS. Super, super cheap for what you get.

I get that a lot of people on here default to their computers, but iPhone/smartphones are the new default computing device, followed by smart TV and tablets, followed by computers for both normal consumers and younger people.

There’s a reason why iPad dominates — and I really emphasize ‘dominates’ here — the tablet market in first world countries. It’s far ahead of most everyone else (and it’s stuck around, unlike, say, Google)

I’d say that the big impetus for Apple getting the iPad more computer-like (overlapping windows and all the pain that comes with that when using touch) is that for most people/students, an iPad is enough… for school, light work, surfing… and they really don’t and won’t ever need a computer. But in this case, they left a hole where the old ‘pretty optimized for touch’ multitasking was. They need to close that hole.

also, two words: “iPad babies”

@Someone else All the multitasking stuff works with touch. I use it without a pencil or trackpad. They also made the windowing a separate mode so you don’t even have to see it if you don’t want to.

Apple said it’s not a big phone but then proceeded to do lazy ports of their phone apps, just what they told us not to do.

Works != works well (this is subjective, of course)

Happy that you’re enjoying the new windowing system but a lot of other folks (https://www.reddit.com/r/iPadOS/) (including myself) miss slide over and split-view, and dragging an app from the dock (or spotlight) into either. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s better than what’s present now for many of us.

I don’t recall any (many?) lazy ports from iPhone to iPad by Apple. From iPad to Mac, yes. Maybe you can remind me or list some you’re thinking of. Also, my expectations are probably quite different from yours — iPad apps are like iPhone apps but showing two layers of navigation. That’s about it. Maybe you were expecting something more Mac-like? Or a Mac app to be migrated down to the iPad? (which would not only be extremely difficult, but the iOS code base for all those Apple apps are sitting right there waiting to be expanded upon)

(I’m not on iPad OS 26, or any of the ‘26, actually — I tried the betas, noped out because of the iPad windowing, and hope they improve on what they have)

If you look at the iPad (pro) of today, as compared to the iPad at launch, and as compared to the Surface Pro when it launched, the iPad Pro today is more like the original Surface Pro, than it is like the original iPad.

Microsoft was correct from the start; a shorter battery life, and arguably (a matter of opinion and taste) slightly less good touch UI was less important to the success of the tablet computer paradigm, than the ability to run desktop apps, to have a rich scope of inputs, and to become a desktop computer.

Everything bad about the iPad, is an Apple-derived idea. Everything good about the iPad (pencil, kyeboard & mouse support, external displays, desktop UI modes) is a Microsoft idea.

Hilarious that the constant critique of the iPad is how much it falls short of the Mac, and so Apple's response is to make the Mac into just a UI and permissions skin for spec-bumped iPad hardware.

I've had an iPad since day one, and I've lost count of how many I've actually owned at this point.

It truly was a new device category: a hand-held, long-battery-life device with a screen that worked in portrait mode, making it ideal for reading books and websites on the go. The minuscule screens of netbooks were terrible for actually viewing content—they were often too small to even display all of a Windows application's UI. While it took the Retina Display on the iPad 3 to make the iPad a great book-reading device, it was at least feasible to read a book on the original iPad.

That's what sold me on it.

But once you HAD an iPad, you started to wish it could do more. That you could use it to write more than a short document, which meant a real keyboard. That you could select things with some precision. That you could do more than one thing at a time so you didn't need to ALSO bring a full laptop with you—as an IT pro, for example, letting one SSH into a server and look up something on a website while you did it. Making that useful required a keyboard, a bigger screen, more RAM, and better multitasking—and the iPad Pro is finally there.

I agree, though, that Apple has lost the plot on the iPad a bit in the process. The new iPad Pro's landscape-first camera orientation makes it hard to use in portrait mode the way I always have—my thumb constantly covers the camera as I try to balance the iPad's weight without my palm triggering the screen thanks to the ever-shrinking bezel. The new multitasking UI, which works great with the Magic Keyboard, is frustrating when using touch controls.

The iPad used to be focused on content consumption with a secondary competence as a laptop replacement. Apple's now clearly trying to make the iPad Pro into the next MacBook Air. I'm not sure that's the right thing.

@Someone else Split View didn’t go away, and they brought back Slide Over in 26.1. They’re always changing how these work. In my view, it’s more intuitive now, though some may disagree.

I realize I may be in a minority, but I do find the iPad to be a useful third device? I use it to read fiction on the web. My phone would be too small, and my computer, sadly, is not great for reading while commuting on the T (even if it did have cellular)... I can also bring it with me on vacation, and do most of the things I would want a computer for...

@Michael, The old Split View isn’t present in 26. The new Slide Over is not the same nor as powerful. You can try to simulate part of what was in the ‘classic mode’ Split View but it’s certainly not easy — lots more work — and impossible with the new Slide Over. So count me as someone who disagrees. If it worked as well, I’d be on it now.

IMO, the new mode with the traffic light button… for touch… is fidigty, indirect, and unintuitive, and leads to gorilla arm. Great UI for a trackpad or mouse maybe (though trackpad and mouse in classic-mode 18 works pretty well great, too, for light multitasking)

Not to say that ‘classic mode’ was perfect — there are plenty of problems with it, too — confusing for many normal people (which is why it could be turned off)

What would have been nice is for Apple to add the new more powerful windowing mode and leave the old multitasking UI, just like they did when they introduced Stage Manager and left ‘classic mode’ in there.

While I do occasionally use the overlapping-window mode myself (Stage Manager in 18) but 99.9% of the time, for what I’m doing, “classic mode” — Split View and Slide Over — are just fine for what I actually need.

Anyway, I’m speaking for myself, but I own all the devices at lots of sizes, and my mains are an iPad Pro 11 and 12.9 and has been for years, the larger one usually with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, but not always. Great for what I do/need for work and play, but I’m not everyone. But also not everyone needs Mac-style windows.

Fun thought: a Magic Keyboard to an iPad Pro 12.9 weighs as much as a MacBook Air/Pro.

From Apple’s perspective, they’re selling you a large-screen device whether it’s a Mac Laptop or an iPad… Price ends up about the same, too.

…but for consumers who usually will buy just one or the other, at least to start, which should they buy? If it’s the iPad (and iPads outsell Macs by like 2:1), then perhaps that’s why Mac-like windowing is more important to Apple (and its customers). Also, even the cheap iPads work with keyboards. That’s a pretty big value prop for consumers.

@Someone else What’s impossible with the new Slide Over? It seems pretty much the same to me except that the “Enter Slide Over” command is now inside the green button. There’s also a button in there to do Split View; what’s “more work” to “simulate”? You can also do it without the green button by “throwing” the window to one side of the screen. Is that not touch-first?

@Michael, Sounds like you don't use these features? That's fine, but yeah, not 'touch-first'... gestures to invoke these things are much harder now. Several precise taps at the top of the screen rather than a single drag from the bottom.

Also, the old Slide Over was actually/could be a stack of apps -- basically like the stack of recent apps you see on the iPhone -- and you can swipe left/right the thick 'home bar' at the bottom to switch between apps/windows in that stack. Try it out. Drag a few apps from the dock into the same Slide Over spot. It's pretty neat.

Also, in 18, Split View / Slide Over doesn't require pressing a button (or rather, tap tap, or long-press) -- it's just a drag from the dock to the right place.

Sounds like iOS 26.2 beta is bringing a lot of the missing things back/into the new windowing system:
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/11/18/ipados-26-2-multitasking-hands-on/

I'm not using that beta (maybe if I can find another iPad to play with) but sounds like they've added back in:: Drag app icon from the dock/spotlight/etc. to the split-view side you want it to live in, or into a floating Slide Over window. That's been a big missing piece for us 18 multitaskers.

So that's good news. Looking forward to feature parity with 18 + all the new windowing.

I usually trust that when something obviously bad/awful is released, Apple has a long-term plan, possibly with some short-term pain due to lack of released hardware or perhaps, and I expect/think/want to believe that's the case here, too.

I was/am pretty sure that the lack of all these obvious windowing affordances and gestures were missing because getting basic Mac-style windowing working solidly was the MVP of iOS 26, and that all these conveniences will be added back in. There were already lots of other high-priority/must-ship things so I feel for them, but boy, they inflicted a lot of UI pain for the upgraders in the meantime.

@Someone else I mostly did multitasking using the … button in iOS 18. I guess when you say “touch first” you mean gestures, not touching a button? You don’t have to use a button in 26 for Split View; you can flick windows to the side.

Yup. So for you, the traffic light buttons are quite similar, but touch gestures were really rich and powerful in 18. No flicking, just drag and drop where you want the new window and everything else moves put of the way.

If you still have an 18 iPad, also try dragging the three dots around. It’s nice. They could adopt that for 26 but haven’t (yet?)