Apple said to prep giant, foldable ‘MacPad’

In 2018, the U.S. patent and trademark office granted Apple a patent for a dual display MacBook or future-gen iPad Pro
Apple is working on a revolutionary device for launch sometime around 2028: a foldable tablet that expands into a larger, dual-screen workspace, according to Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
‎

The Cupertino, California-based company has been honing the product for a couple of years now and is aiming to bring something to market around 2028, I’m told.
Apple’s goal for a foldable device is to avoid the crease that current products have when they’re in the open position. And the company has made progress on this front: Prototypes of this new product within Apple’s industrial design group have a nearly invisible crease. But it’s too early to tell if Apple will can get rid of it altogether.
Right now, Apple’s largest iPad tops out at 13 inches. Apple knows that customers — gamers, software developers or just people watching movies — want the biggest screen possible. And the only way to sensibly ship a mobile product with a large display (one approaching 20 inches or so) is to make it foldable. Otherwise, it’s too hard to throw into a purse or backpack.
It’s not yet clear what operating system the Apple computer will run, but my guess is that it will be iPadOS or a variant of it. I don’t believe it will be a true iPad-Mac hybrid, but the device will have elements of both. By the time 2028 rolls around, iPadOS should be advanced enough to run macOS apps, but it also makes sense to support iPad accessories like the Apple Pencil.
It is my impression that much of Apple’s current work on foldable screen technology is focused on this higher-end device, but it’s also been exploring the idea of a foldable iPhone…But I wouldn’t anticipate a foldable iPhone before 2026 at the earliest.

‎
MacDailyNews Take: With the chips and storage capacities available today, not to mention what we’ll have in 2028, it’s trivial to allows such a device run both iPadOS and macOS and let the user switch between the two. In other words: Say “hello,” to Apple’s MacPad!
Now, if Apple will do that, as it would – depending very much on price* – potentially cannibalize iPad and Mac sales (no need to buy two separate products), we will see.
*If Apple priced such a “MacPad” higher than the cost of a MacBook Air plus an iPad Air, they’d minimize the cannibalization.
It’s an interesting even more elegant idea than our over seven-year-old “MacPad” idea:
Here’s an idea: Apple could sell iPad Pros as they do now, and for those wanting a “Mac,” Apple could sell them the macOS-powered display-less keyboard/trackpad/cpu/RAM/SSD/battery base unit. Attach your iPad for the display and off you go, you Mac-headed truck driver! Plus, you get to use the iPad’s battery, too, extending battery life to provide a truly all-day battery for portable Mac users. Detach the display and you get your iOS-powered iPad back, same as always.
Too outside the box? We’d love to be able to take our iPad Pro, mate it with this theoretical Mac base unit, and turn it into a portable Mac. Right now, we carry iPad Pros and MacBooks in our backpacks. Guess what’s redundant? Right, the displays. We don’t need to carry two screens on the road. The iPad Pro’s screen would do just fine, thanks.
Buy the Mac base on its own (for those who already have 12.9-inch iPad Pros) or buy it as part of a package (get a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro at a nice discount when you buy it with the Mac base).
— MacDailyNews, January 7, 2017

We are currently about 1/4th of the way to being sustainable with Substack subscriptions.
Please tell your Apple-loving friends about MacDailyNews on Substack and, if you’re currently a free subscriber, please consider $5/mo. or $50/year to keep MacDailyNews going. Just hit the subscribe button. Thank you!

Read on Substack

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple said to prep giant, foldable ‘MacPad’ appeared first on MacDailyNews.