An Apple OS?
Apple’s announcement to move on from Intel processors got me thinking where this could lead in the long run, maybe even to a unified OS?
Apple’s WWDC was extraordinary. Along with the new Operating systems for their devices, they announced that the company would no longer use Intel Chips in their Macs, instead switching to their own silicon.
During the developer conference, several Apple employees showed off the new innovations on Macs already running on an Apple A12Z processor, currently used in the 2020 iPad Pros. The processor seemed to have no problem at all doing the various presented task, like showing off the redesigned apps and even scrubbing through 4k footage in Final Cut Pro.
It showed once again what power Apple has managed to put into these chips, and remarkably they aren’t even dedicated chips for computer use, but mobile devices like iPads.
The presentation got me thinking where the whole development could lead to over several years. The one prevailing thought I had, was the one of an Apple OS. Instead of having different operating systems for different devices, they would have one OS running on all devices, with the devices having different chips.
Why an Apple OS?
In my opinion, Apple’s ecosystem is its most valuable asset. It is the gold standard for integration across all of their devices, and no other company, at the moment, has something comparable.
With every new Update, the interaction between the products gets even more sophisticated. With macOS 10.15 Catalina, Apple introduced sidecar, a feature that made the iPad a Macs second display.
Another feature showing off the interaction is the unlock with Apple Watch feature on the Mac. Instead of using TouchID or your password to log into your Mac, it will be automatically unlocked while you’re wearing your Apple Watch, and there are many more examples of how Apple’s products interact with each other beyond these two.
Equipping Macs with Apple silicon brings the devices even closer together. During the Keynote, it was already shown that from day one, iPad and iPhone Apps could run on the new Macs.
This is due to the shared ARM chip architecture. Running iOS applications on Mac shows how close the operating systems have gotten, and now they even run on similar chips.
However, will Apple be content with having iOS Apps on the Mac? I don’t think so. The Cupertino company is continually working on creating the most seamless experience possible across all of their devices. Thus, in my eyes, the logical step beyond similar chips and operating systems, is creating a unified operating system.
How I imagine it to work
The sound of one operating system for various types of devices sounds strange at first. Of course, there are operating systems like Windows, which run on a diverse set of devices, but they are all a pc in one way or another. Running a pc operating system on a smartphone isn’t practical.
With ARM chips coming to Macs, however, things could change.
ARM chips have the benefit of being smaller or more modular than their x86 architecture counterparts.
Due to the lower number of transistors in an ARM chip, there is more space for additional components such as graphic processing units, or the chip can be smaller. Depending on the use case of the processor, this would allow Apple to create a chip for the iPhone, which is smaller and one for the Macs with more power.
If Apple decides to design chips like this, similar at the core, but with different added components, they would be able to unify their OS.
For it to work properly, the OS would have to be a fully-fledged computer OS in the things it can do. Otherwise, it would put the devices in an awkward spot, like the iPad Pro was. If it is a full computer OS, however, the way apps would be developed would change drastically.
Instead of developing apps for a specific OS, they will be programmed for certain types of processors. Running intensive tasks like Final Cut Pro or Photoshop would only be possible on processors with added graphic processing powers, which would be in Macs.
Devices that wouldn’t have these added components wouldn’t be able to install these programs. Hence the chip would be the determining factor in App development.
If processors would be the factor that determines the availability of an app, this would also mean that the device with the most powerful chip, would be able to run all programs. It wouldn’t matter whether they are designed for powerful or energy-efficient chips because it would tick every category.
Drawbacks
If Apple were to create an Apple OS one day, this would also have several drawbacks. First of all, creating an OS for different types of input is exceptionally challenging.
Apple OS would have to support touch input as well as mouse and keyboard inputs, the software engineers would have to come up with great solutions, in order to maintain Apple’s intuitiveness. While Windows 10 already features both, touch and mouse input, there are several occasions where it is visible that it wasn’t designed with touch first in mind.
The iPad Pro serves as the opposite example, adding mouse and trackpad support to this device took a long time and still isn’t completely perfect. I am confident that Apple would be able to make an OS that integrates all input forms perfectly, but it would be a massive challenge.
Furthermore, a terrifying problem that could occur are bugs compromising the whole OS. If there were to be a problem with the operating system, no device would run anymore. Currently, if iOS has a problem that severely limits its usability, macOS isn’t affected by that. In an Apple OS, all devices would be affected by the same bug, which could lead to all devices not being used anymore.
Another problem would be the product lineup. If the product lineup were similar to the current one, it would put the iPad Pro and the MacBook Air at a weird spot. Due to the OS having the power and versatility of a “normal” computer OS, the iPad Pro would only be separated from the MacBook Air by the touch-first user interface. I imagine them having very similar or even the same processor because both devices serve almost the same purpose.
Also, the Apple Watch would be in a difficult spot. I couldn’t really manage to come up with a solution to its position. If Apple were to release an Apple OS, the Apple Watch would maybe run a very downscaled version of it, but honestly, I couldn’t really integrate it my concept of an Apple OS running on all Apple devices. This is not to say that Apple would get rid of the Watch if they were to create an Apple OS, it just means that I can’t imagine how.
Apple creating a unified Operating system for all of their devices is a quite intriguing thought. On the one hand, it would allow for a complete integration for all of Apple’s devices into their ecosystem. There wouldn’t be any interfaces between any of their products. It would literally be a seamless experience.
However, there are drawbacks, especially the difficulty of creating and maintaining this kind of OS as well as the danger of bugs compromising it.
Either way, I am not sure I would like to see Apple creating one unified operating system sometime, but I think the concept should be entertained.
Stay healthy, stay safe and stay kind out there
Raffael
