Okay Apple, it seems you were listening after all..

Here at TZP we’ve shared our thoughts in the past about consumer tablets like iPads, especially those larger than 7 inches (spoiler warning; we think they’re useless) and it seems that we weren’t the only ones who didn’t think highly of them. Apple has long touted iPads as being full-fledged PC replacements, especially when it came to the iPad Pro line, and that just gave us and other tech sites around the world reasons to especially point out or even make fun of all the things an iPad couldn’t do. It was a long list, but chief among its many entries were the following:

• Using a mobile based operating system and hence being stuck with mobile apps.

• Being unable to easily access flash drives, external hard drives, cameras or even SD cards for photographers or media professionals

• Simply being unable to actually create, delete, import or just easily move files and folders around in the better-late-than never iOS files app because the app itself isn’t even a proper file manager.

As we said, there’s a lot more to complain about, but those key factors stuck out the most because despite being marketed as laptop replacements or equivalents, the iPad couldn’t even perform basic tasks a laptop could. Even its web browsing experience was watered down by using only the mobile version of Safari which can’t open web apps as simple as Google Docs. Simply put, the iPad was a joke if you actually wanted to do something really productive and it seems despite acting otherwise, even Apple knew this, which is why they’ve unveiled the much more capable future of the iPad in iPad OS.

Now to get the facts straight, iPad OS isn’t actually a brand-new OS totally built from scratch but instead a heavily modified version of iOS with more utility-based features that iPhones don’t actually need. But the name change is arguably very necessary, as it signifies a more focused approach by Apple to actually developing the iPad as a serious machine. This starts by addressing each of the three issues we highlighted at the start. Firstly, iPads will use full desktop-grade Safari now, meaning full desktop web pages, features and access to web apps. Secondly, you can simply plug in a flash drive now (if you have a USB-C one or adapter available) and the Files app will detect it, allowing you to simply copy the files and even move them into folders you create. That pretty much solves the last two issues but iPad OS also allows much better and more robust multitasking features, allowing you to run (technically) up to three apps side by side as well as running multiple instances of a single app e.g. two Word documents at the same time. These aren’t totally groundbreaking changes; any PC user would tell you they don’t even have to think about such features on their laptop. But the key point is that the iPad isn’t a laptop, and having such features makes it get even closes to its laptop-replacing dream. Even having your widgets next to your app tray or the better copy/paste experience just pushes the message that the iPad is getting more laptop-like. And perhaps the best part about it is that it will be coming to all recent iPads dating all the way back to 2015. That’s a pretty great deal considering it gives even some of the oldest iPads new life and makes them a little bit more useful to whoever owns them. And we honestly can’t be grateful enough for that here at TZP.

SO, will iPad OS make me personally rush out to get an iPad Pro? Well, no. After all it’s still in its early stages and something tells us the iPad still won’t be a full on PC replacement for quite a while, but if Apple can at the very least keep giving the OS more and more useful features the iPad may never have to totally match your PC, it just has to be capable enough to be the device you can reliably use more while on the go, and that’s enough for us to get behind it.