iPadOS 26 Turns the iPad Into a Sort of 'Mac Jr.'

Okay, we’re three (developer) betas in now. The public beta is undoubtedly coming very soon. I feel like I have a good enough sense of iPadOS 26 at this point, and where I think the final builds will end up, to say a few words about it. Namely, the new features that make the iPad operate more like a Mac.

To that end, my key takeaway and thought is sort of a funny one: my god, Apple has made a Mac Jr.

That sounds derisive. And it sort of is! I don’t hate the experience by any means, but it seems sort of funny what Apple has done to iPadOS to avoid letting the iPad boot macOS. It’s now this pretty weird hybrid operating system that feels like it exists between iOS and macOS. It’s still a bit more iOS than macOS, but it’s pretty close to the halfway point with iPadOS 26...