iPadOS first look: Desktop-class browsing, better multitasking and more
With some key changes, Apple's iPads are growing more laptop-like.
We knew Apple would make major changes to iOS on the iPad, but we didn't think the company would take things a step further and announce iPadOS. (Not until Apple quietly let the news slip ahead of its WWDC keynote, anyway.) Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of software engineering, says the process of using the iPad has become a "truly distinct" experience, one that requires special attention beyond that which goes into phone-centric versions of iOS. Needless to say, iPads stand to gain a lot when this new software becomes available later this year.
Rather than dig into every single feature that's going into iPadOS — we're still trying to sort through all of them ourselves — we cooked up a handy video primer to walk you through some of the update's most important features. That new home screen is nice and all, but improved multitasking, a new approach to file management and a much-improved web browsing experience in Safari go a long way in making the iPad feel like a machine worth using for work and play. With last year's iPad Pros, Apple proved that there's still a place in this world for high-end tablets. Now, with iPadOS coming soon, the quality of Apple's tablet software finally seems to be catching up the company's first-rate hardware.
