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Although many announcements, big or small, are expected at the Apple event next week, there is a big problem that concerns at least two product lines of the company: the future of its mobile computing devices.
With rumors about a new iPad Pro and a new iPad mini more the possibility that an update or successor to MacBook Air is emerging, the range of mobile devices Apple is about to get important updates. But as these products get closer, I begin to question myself about Apple's mobile computing strategy.
Convergence is a vulgar word for many consumers of Apple products, evoking images of toaster refrigerators and Microsoft Surfaces. But it is undeniable that the iPad Pro and MacBook are, if they are not converging, certainly on a collision course. The real question is whether both can survive.
MacBook heir
I am a big fan of the MacBook Air. I'm using the 11 inch model, very expensive, as a laptop and sometimes as the main computer since 2011. (I replaced it once, with an improved version, in 2014.) C & # 39; is the longest document that I've used Mac Form Factor, which is why I would not want to replace it.
Amazon11 inch MacBook Air
Although I work a lot on the iPad lately, the Mac remains my home. Much of this is muscle memory and the strength of habit; I have been using a Mac since the early 90s and it's hard for me to change the subject.
To date, the successor proposed by Apple's MacBook Air – or MacBook Heir, as my friend Lex Friedman The 12-inch MacBook, which has never appealed to me as a true substitute, invented it with wit. The limit of a single USB-C port, the less-satisfying keyboard and the slightly larger footprint all prevented me from proceeding with the upgrade; they all seemed to have brought the MacBook closer to an iPad. From the hardware point of view, they lack only a touch screen and the ability to detach the keyboard.
But something fun happened while the MacBook seemed to aim for the simplicity of the iPad: the iPad Pro has moved to the MacBook – and perhaps even in the past -, expanding its capabilities rather than to minimize it.
The iPad of the past and the future
The iPad is an extremely powerful and versatile mobile computing device. Over the past eight years, he has become more and more powerful. While people were making fun of him as a machine that was not suitable for "serious work", most people would now agree that it is sufficient for almost all categories of specific tasks.
Apple iPad Pro
Now, stack a 12.9-inch iPad Pro against a 12-inch MacBook, and you can not go wrong wondering why Apple offers two products that seem to occupy the same place in the range. Especially when you add the obvious benefits of the iPad, such as a touch screen and the ability to convert the form factors of tablets and laptops.
If the rumor of a USB-C port on the iPad Pro was true, another advantage of the MacBook could disappear. (It depends on the capabilities that Apple unlocks for that port in the software.) And, as the keyboards of Apple's Mac laptops are designed with even smaller tolerances, the iPad's Smart Keyboard has begun to appear relatively luxurious in terms of reliability.
This does not mean that there is more reason for Macs. No iOS device replaces an iMac or Mac mini, and maybe not even a MacBook Pro. But recent performance tests have combined the performance of the iPad with performance equivalent or better than that of Macs on certain tasks. What was once a lock for Apple personal computers on its mobile devices is no longer a sure thing.
So, given the proximity of the product lines, this raises the question of whether the choice between Mac and iPad has become not just a feature, but simply a personal choice.
The choice is up to
To a certain extent, yes: iOS vs. macOS (or iPad vs. MacBook) is more about what you prefer. This is a somewhat strange position for Apple, with two devices competing so closely in the same market. Most of us certainly do not need both an iPad Pro and a MacBook in our lives, and so it is likely that people choose to go one way or the other. (The advantage, of course, is that Apple wins in both cases.)
Next week we may see what Apple thinks about these competing philosophies. Will he release a mainstream laptop that allows the Mac to be the Mac rather than getting closer to the iPad? Will the iPad adopt USB-C and the management of files and storage that we have so far on Mac?
It will not be the end of the story; it's not as if this event would interrupt the release of the MacBook or that the iPad was about to get complete development tools or the kind of multitasking to the full window that the Mac offers. But the fact that these things do not happen next week does not mean they habit to arrive at some point in the future. This next event does not say because it will offer a fully formed future, but because it will pave the way for that Apple wants to deliver with his mobile devices.
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