Apple says the majority of Mac users also own an iPad, which likely means macOS is never coming to the iPad

Today as part of M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air release day, Harry McCracken at Fast Company published an interview with Apple execs wherein Greg Joswiak shared an interesting detail about Apple’s customer base. That detail has big implications for the current debate about whether Apple might bring macOS to the iPad some day.

Most Mac users also own an iPad

Joswiak said:

The fact is that the majority of Mac customers have an iPad, and they use them both

It’s rare for Apple to provide detail like this around its device sales and customer patterns. It’s evident from quarterly earnings that the iPad typically sells more units than the Mac, but Apple doesn’t typically disclose whether its Mac or iPad buyers already own one or more of the company’s other devices. Now we have a solid glimpse into the average Mac and iPad buyer’s customer profile.

Apple knowing that the majority of its Mac customers also own an iPad has undoubtedly impacted its internal trajectory for the iPad.

The real threat of product cannibalization

Following another wave of iPad Pro reviews wherein the hardware is seen to outpace the software, many users are calling for Apple to put macOS on the iPad. Perhaps as a replacement for iPadOS, but as many iPad power users argue, Apple could also just make macOS an “escape hatch” of sorts. So the majority of the time you’re using iPadOS, but if you run into an issue that needs Mac software, you could access macOS to solve the problem.

This latter solution might be appealing to Apple for the sole reason that they wouldn’t need to optimize macOS for touch. The Mac could stay the Mac, and the iPad could just tap into macOS’s power as needed, on occasion. The newest iPads do come with M4 and M2 chips, after all.

However, there’s one big reason this will likely never happen. If iPad owners get access to macOS thrown in for free, then Mac sales will undoubtedly take a major hit.

Two sales are better than one

Last quarter alone, the Mac brought in $7.45 billion in revenue. Annually it brings in nearly $30 billion for the company. What do you think that number would be if macOS was suddenly available on the iPad?

Even if Apple limited macOS to high-end iPad models, like the M4 iPad Pro, the consequences on Mac sales could be substantial. Especially over time, as the M4 starts to trickle down to the rest of the iPad line.

If Apple can sell customers both an iPad and a Mac, that’s what it’s going to do. Both products are very established, reliable revenue generators for the company. Modern day Apple isn’t going to let that go.