Apple appears to be headed toward unifying its multiple operating systems via a design makeover, and the iPad will start looking more like a personal computer, according to presentations aired Monday at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
“For the first time, we’re introducing a universal design across our platforms,” said Apple’s Vice President of Human Interface Design, Alan Dye. “This unified design language creates a more harmonious experience as we move between products while maintaining the qualities that make each unique.”
“The user interface across platforms has been redesigned with a ‘Liquid Glass’ aesthetic, emphasizing light, transparency, and depth, heavily influenced by the VisionOS UI,” explained Francisco Jeronimo, a vice president for IDC, a market research company based in Framingham, Mass.
“The look and feel — with more translucent menus, updated icons, and redesigned toolbars — brings Apple’s mobile, desktop, and XR environments closer together,” he told TechNewsWorld. “These changes bring a more visually appealing experience, more clarity to navigation and controls, and provide a more polished overall user experience.”
“Strategically, Apple appears to be leveraging a refreshed and unified user experience as a primary means to preserve ecosystem loyalty and stimulate hardware upgrades,” he said. “By making the experience more cohesive, it implicitly raises the friction for users considering a switch to competing platforms while offering a new aesthetic standard that could make Android interfaces appear dated.”
Aero Redux?
Ross Rubin, the principal analyst at Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City, noted that there has been considerable commentary on social media about Apple’s new look resembling Microsoft’s old Aero interface. “That’s a little unfair,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Both are inspired by glass, but Apple has refined it a lot more in terms of how the elements react to lighting and dealing with dark modes.”
“They’ve redesigned a lot of the interface elements, which is a challenge across so many different user interfaces,” he said, “but it looks like they’ve certainly done a nice job balancing sleekness with functionality there.”
The interface looks like Apple is moving back toward skeuomorphism, which they soundly rejected a couple of years ago, observed Andrew Cornwall, a senior analyst with Forrester Research, a national market research company headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. Skeuomorphism is a design concept in which digital objects are modeled after their real-world analogs.
“And it looks like they are moving back toward a unified ecosystem, which is something else that they rejected, saying iPadOS needs its own OS, iPhone needs its own OS, Mac needs its own OS,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Now we’re seeing that maybe they can combine together and be one, or something that very much looks like one OS on three platforms.”
“When you look at what they’re doing across these new OSes, besides giving [each of] them the name 26, you’re seeing a greater unification of operating systems on all of their devices,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm in San Jose, Calif.
“The user interfaces are much easier to use across all devices,” he told TechNewsWorld. “You don’t have to learn to use a new user interface on each device, as we did in the beginning. Now, they all look alike, and they all work alike.”
Anshel Sag, a senior analyst for mobility, 5G, and XR at Moor Insights & Strategy, a technology analyst and advisory firm based in Austin, Texas, noted that a lot of what Apple is doing in the new overall design language is aimed at making iOS, iPad, and other apps more compatible with AR applications. “That way, they can port their apps to AR,” he told TechNewsWorld. “It’ll be easier for them to do because the design language will be inherently more intuitive.”
iPadOS Update Blurs Line With MacOS
The refresh of iPadOS announced at the WWDC is moving the tablet closer to the PC camp, according to Apple watchers. “There’s no question that iPadOS is becoming much more like macOS,” asserted Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research, a technology advisory firm in Las Vegas.
“They’re adding much more significant multitasking capabilities,” he told TechNewsWorld. “There’s now a files app that looks a lot more like a desktop app.”
“I think this is just one more step closer to where macOS and iPadOS come together and eventually become one operating system,” he added.
The new iPadOS 26 menu bar brings Mac-like functionality to tablets, letting users access app commands and find features or help using built-in search. (Image Credit: Apple)
“I really feel like either the iPad or the Mac is becoming redundant,” said Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst with the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore.
“The overlap between the iPad and the Mac this round is pretty pronounced,” he told TechNewsWorld. “I mean, even the woman doing the demonstration looked like she was doing it off of a laptop, but it was an iPad.”
IDC’s Jeronimo maintained that the introduction of more Mac-like multitasking features is a sign of Apple’s sustained ambition to evolve the iPad into a true productivity tool.
“This is a continuation of Apple’s long-term strategy to position the iPad, particularly its Pro models, as a viable laptop replacement for productivity-focused tasks,” he said. “For users, this could mean a significantly more efficient workflow when managing multiple applications.”
Apple’s AI Strategy Emphasizes Caution, Utility
Although Apple Intelligence was frequently mentioned during the WWDC presentation, it was always linked to functions within applications. “I think they have done a better job at managing expectations this time around,” said Forrester’s Cornwall. “Last year at WWDC, they had some demo reels that made it look like they were much further ahead in AI than they are.”
“I think this year they have backed off from that, and they are right-sizing the end user’s expectations about what AI can do,” he continued. “They showed a lot of examples of AI being used, and I think those will be valuable to iPhone and iPad customers and macOS customers.”
“For Apple, 2025 is shaping up as a transitional year,” IDC’s Jeronimo forecasted. “The company is maintaining user trust and developer interest, but it is not pushing the envelope in AI, a domain where rivals are moving quickly. Apple is not, at least publicly, making radical shifts in AI strategy in direct response to competitive pressures. Historically favoring execution over experimentation, Apple often enters new spaces by delivering the best possible experience to delight users.”
“This approach to AI, despite short-term criticism, suggests a degree of confidence in its long-term approach, or perhaps an acknowledgment that a more profound AI pivot requires more time,” he added.
Getting AI use cases right remains tricky, warned Kristen Hanich, an analyst with Parks Associates, a market research and consulting company specializing in consumer technology products in Dallas.
“Consumers have shown a mixed reaction to GenAI, sometimes verging on the negative,” she told TechNewsWorld. “Companies need to be careful that their use of AI reflects what consumers want and find valuable, and not just what investors demand. This is particularly true for companies in the hardware and operating system space, which must walk a careful tightrope between helpful and insightful applications and ones that might be seen as annoying or invasive.”
“Apple’s rollout of Apple Intelligence to its users is improving, with adoption among iPhone users nearly doubling between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025,” she said. “While at present, Apple Intelligence adoption among iPhone users is far below that of ChatGPT and roughly on par with Google Gemini, Meta AI, and Microsoft CoPilot, this rapid growth in Apple Intelligence adoption suggests that Apple’s careful strategy is paying off.”
