Thoughts on an “iPad Studio” and the future of the iPad Pro
I think that Apple surprised everyone this month with the release of the Mac Studio desktop and the Studio monitor. The last year of the Apple silicon transition has been exciting and surprisingly with how quickly and excellent the move has been. It’s a great time to be a Mac user…as an iPad power user though it feels like the company has taken its eye off the platform. Federico Viticci joked this week
The iPod Studio is obviously a joke (would be cool though), but The HomePod Studio and iPad Studio would be neat ideas if they did work out. iPadOS is in a weird place. Apple has added trackpad + keyboard support, a file system, and a customizable Home Screen, but despite having the same M1 processor as the Mac, the iPad still cannot properly use an external display, really multitask, and lacks “Pro” apps to really justify its more professional hardware features. It seems like “Pro” in the iPad context simply means “Plus” or “Premium” rather than enabling people to do more with the iPad. I think Apple products are best when they push against their siblings like the iPhone did with the iPod and eventually we got a better musical experience over the years as the iPhone beat out the iPod with the advent of streaming audio, AirPlaying music, wireless phones, and I’d even throw in spatial audio. The iPad still lacks an iPad optimized version of Final Cut and Logic and while the Mac also lacks Aperture, I would argue that the iPad Pro needs a professional Apple photography solution even more, the hardware just screams to be a portable photo editing studio with the Apple Pencil, Thunderbolt port, long battery life, and the simple physical fact that you can view, triage, and edit photos directly in your hands.
Hardware
I think a Studio iPad should a massive 15” size. I think the webcam should be moved so that you take FaceTime video calls in the landscape orientation since an iPad Studio would be a Creator’s device like a laptop. The iPad Studio should also have 2x Thunderbolt ports, one on the right size and the left side of the device and perhaps even a headphone jack for audio devices. MiniLED, Promotion screen across the line would be table stakes, as would excellent speakers, and multiple microphones for recording podcasts, music, and videos. The Apple Pencil should evolve to have an eraser finally in addition a motor in it to simulate friction when you write or draw with the pencil. The Magic Keyboard should come with additional angle support. A desktop dock with Thunderbolt could turn the iPad into a computer, especially if iPadOS supported external display properly. An updated version of the Smart Keyboard Folio could allow for the iPad to be used as a drawing tablet for artists and designers.
Software
I say Apple should unleash the iPad Pro from its constrains in iOS 16 and just allow the thing to have floating windows finally. They already do it with Apple Notes and it didn’t break the iPad experience. I say if the iPad has the screen real estate to do it then let people go crazy. I think that apps should still launch full-screen and they could intelligently recommend people just use split screen or slide-over apps by default and as the screen gets bigger like the 13” iPad Pro or 15” iPad Studio then surface additional buttons to make an app go into a windowed state. This could particularly useful for people who want to turn their iPads into a desktop by hooking it up to an external display. I think most people will still use 1x app at a time on iPadOS, but giving people additional capabilities if they spring for the larger and more capable Pro and Studio iPads could go a long way. I think iOS 16 should also finally developer professional Apple apps like Final Cut, Logic Pro, Aperture (Photos), and Xcode. We got a taste of what the iPad can do with Swift Playgrounds last year and Adobe continues to push the iPad forward with their Lightroom, Photoshop, and Indesign Mobile applications, but I think its time for Apple to really show what a professional iPad app can look like. They should make a case for why creative pros should add an iPad Pro or Studio to their lineup of devices in their workflow.
Wrapping up
I understand there is this desire to keep the iPad simple for everyone, but I think that sometimes by trying to keep the device too limited you can introduce complexities. If somebody buys an “Pro” or “Studio” version of the iPad they are probably professional or enthusiastic users who want to do more on Apple’s hybrid device. I would argue at this point with the Magic Keyboard, mouse support, and Magic Pencil that the iPad Pro and a future iPad Studio is more of a hybrid computer than the entry-level iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Mini. Those devices can have a keyboard and pointer device attached to them in a pinch, but I think that the vast majority of those users will never opt to do that, but instead use the iPad as a tablet first and fall back to a more traditional Mac, PC, or Chromebook. Echoing Federico, I do wish that the iPadOS team would have more consistent updates like the Mac team does or have a vision keynote at one point that explains how Apple sees the future of the iPad. Is it its own computing platform or just a sidecar platform to a Mac and iPhone? Has Apple decided that much? I feel like the iPad would benefit a lot from being unshackled and left to evolve in its own direction away from the Mac and see where that goes
