Equipping Apple’s newest iPads with top-tier chipsets like the M4 meant that these tablets continued to remain unrivaled in this category when comparing raw performance. Unfortunately, the lack of refined features meant that the hardware was practically going to waste because the company was intentionally gimping the software, forcing power users to maintain the MacBook as their daily driver.
Thankfully, the preview of iPadOS 26 has introduced productivity-focused features such as flexible app windowing, support for advanced keyboard shortcuts, and a floating menu bar, all of which bring compatible iPads a bit closer to the Mac in terms of functionality, with some glaring differences. Two Apple executives sat down in a new interview, mentioning that the decision to bring Mac-like features was not an overnight step, and the company had to tread carefully with this decision.
As the iPad got more and more powerful, Apple’s executives mentioned that it was time that the company slowly opened up the features door
Apple’s Kurt Knight, Senior Director of Platform Product Marketing, and Sebastien Marineau-Mes, Vice President of Software Engineering, sat down with TechRadar to talk about iPadOS 26. With iPads and Macs now sharing more or less the same internals, it was high time that the Cupertino giant became a little more generous in opening up features for iPad owners. Apple’s executives noticed that users wanted to do more kinds of tasks on these tablets as they did on their Macs, prompting the company to introduce new additions in iPadOS 26.
“We also saw, as people used iPad, more and more, and as the iPad hardware got more and more powerful, people wanted to do more and more things, and they increasingly wanted to do the types of things, say, they’re used to doing on their Mac.”
In an earlier interview, Apple’s Senior Vice President of software engineering, Craig Federighi, suggesting that iPadOS and macOS will not be merged, because the iPad’s simplicity needs to be maintained. He also stated that those looking for the best touch computer will set their eyes on an iPad, and on the subject of simplicity, both Apple executives also talked about how this approach needed to be consistent while also offering more features.
“How do we maintain the simplicity of iPad and yet bring more and more of these productivity features and capabilities to it, and do it in a way that’s coherent? That was one of the, I think, key elements of the journey.”
On the topic of multitasking, Knight and Marineau-Mes said that lots of time went into optimizing certain features, like the windowing system. Also, everything new that we have seen in iPadOS 26 during WWDC 2025 did not materialize in a single brainstorming session, and it took years for the company and its executives to reach this point.
“A lot of the work went into optimizing the windowing system. In fact, we redesigned the windowing system, the way that we manage multiple apps on iPad, to give us that scalability across different apps with multiple windows to bring that scalability to the entire iPad product line.”
Apple will likely remain steadfast in its decision to keep iPadOS and macOS separate. While that will disgruntle consumers, the company cannot cannibalize its billion-dollar business just to give customers what they ask for, because more often than not, those decisions are bad for business. If you want to check out the entire interview, you can click on the link below.
News Source: TechRadar
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