People have been begging for a real desktop mode on the iPad forever, if Apple won't even do it for a device which uses the same processor as their laptops and even has an official laptop-style keyboard accessory then they're certainly not going to do it for the iPhone.
They’re really going at it from a weird angle. iOS 18 features the ability to screen share your iPhone to your desktop. They seemingly want to make sure you have a main Mac desktop always.
I could see Mac doing something like the Surface Book form factor. Basically an iPad MacBook hybrid with more power.
> They seemingly want to make sure you have a main Mac desktop always.
I’m willing to believe in this case it’s because they want the Mac to survive. I’m sure every Mac is profitable (in accord with one of Apple’s core values) but Mac sales are pretty tiny compared to other products.
Even when Apple fans say “St Stephen would be rolling in his grave if they got rid of the Mac”, he famously said he’d milk the Mac for all it was worth while doing the next thing.
Separately, there’s already a ton of writing on why iPad and Mac won’t completely converge
Mac, iPad and Home/Wearables all bring in similar revenue. iPhone is the hardware category that dwarfs the rest. Software revenue is roughly equal to Mac/iPad/Wearables combined.
Forgive me, I've been hearing that since 2010. I've been through at least a couple cycles of "but they are this time, seriously!" myself personally -- this most recent cycle was the first one the Apple inteligentsia widely agreed it wasn't worth even talking about.
With any new technology with apple don’t look at how it is used now but what products it will enable in 3-4 years.
The iPhone streaming to Mac is most likely much more about improving AR inthe future than anything to do with Mac. Mac is just an easy platform to get more users using it.
Just like the new iPhone coming out this year isn't for the people who upgrade every year. It'll feel like a "spec bump".
BUT it's for the people whose phone is dropping out of support after 5-7 years of major version upgrades. For them it's a massive leap of performance and features. Just imagine jumping from an iPhone XR to an iPhone 16?
Same with the Vision Pro. Apple finally releases a Pro device that's just for Pro(sumer)s and people complain it's too expensive.
It's the first version, they see what 3rd party devs can and want to do with it and release a new one. There's a rumoured patent about headphones with an external camera for hand tracking, which is a clear evolution of the one in the Vision Pro.
> They seemingly want to make sure you have a main Mac desktop always.
At some point it might even become a "licensing" proposition: If you are registered (or once-connected) or some such as having a desktop, you will get Desktop features on your other devices ...
(Of course once you buy the very expensive Apple brand docks, and keyboards and dongles and cables and adapters and (perhaps) extra monthly fees that you will need ...
Maybe they might couple this with their AI efforts, in making their whole "AI product" into a hardware "box" that you need (even if the box is "dumb" and "Amazon-echo like" ...
... I am guessing Apple will be the first to "commoditize" AI. Perhaps via hardware. Expensive hardware. Apple hardware ...)
none of these things exist, or show any hint of existing. i'd love apple to make an apple dock. they don't because they don't need to; apple hardware uses thunderbolt 4, so thunderbolt docks work. (i do wish apple would support MST in their laptops though, so I can get multiple monitors connected via a single dock without that silly DisplayLink nonsense, but not even an apple dock could get around this limitation.)
your paranoia about apple-proprietary docks, keyboards, dongles, cables, adapters and (perhaps) monthly fees, are completely off-base from what I've seen out of apple.
yes, but they don't require that you use their hardware. non-Apple bluetooth headphones are a thing, and they work great. Apple desktops and laptops still have physical headphone/headset jacks, too.
I personally prefer wireless headphones when using a phone, because having the cable often required that you either have the phone out and in your hand the whole time, because the cable is too short, or somehow the headphone cable is far too long and it gets caught on everything as you move around. I understand wanting to have the option, of course, and I recognize that not everyone shares my preferences.
Having designed electronic circuit boards in the past, I also know that the removal of a connector is always considered a "win". connectors suck and are the source of a lot of problems down the line, especially if they are for connecting to the outside world.
