Amid the release of iPadOS 26, Apple’s vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi gave a long interview to MacStories, in which he spoke in detail about the philosophy of the iPad, the reasons for abandoning macOS on the tablet, and the evolution of multitasking.
According to him, Apple deliberately does not combine platforms in order to preserve the strengths of each. The main thesis: the iPad will not become a Mac, because this will make it worse as a tablet. As an example, Federighi gave a hybrid of a spoon and a fork. Such a combination, in his opinion, turns two great tools into one bad one. Therefore, instead of porting macOS to tablets, Apple adapts the experience on each device: the iPad can be inspired by the Mac, and vice versa, but without losing its identity.
Federighi noted that the development of iPadOS has been a long journey of exploration. A simple, touch-focused interface remains the cornerstone, while advanced features like multitasking and Stage Manager are being introduced with caution.
“We first had to understand what multitasking was like on a touch device, and it turns out it’s not the same experience as on a Mac,” he explained.
At the same time, Apple is careful to ensure that developers don’t start designing their apps in the spirit of macOS. According to Federighi, if the iPad had a menu bar from the start, developers would start hiding all the controls there. This would ruin the ease and intuitiveness unique to the iPad.
Ultimately, Apple is betting on separating devices by role. iPadOS 26 offers more freedom, but remains a tablet, not a Mac in a new format.