September 18, 2013: iOS 7 launches with a radical redesign that divides the tech world. The biggest overhaul Apple’s mobile operating system has seen in years, iOS 7 ditches the skeuomorphic objects, dials and textures of previous iterations.

Instead, it boasts stark patches of white space, simpler icons and more abstract controls for settings. The Jony Ive era of software design is truly underway.

iPadOS 26 is the biggest iPad revamp since 2010, bringing new features that make the tablet far more Mac-like. And there are other enhancements too, especially the user interface overhaul dubbed Liquid Glass that Apple’s latest software brings to all of he company’s devices.

Here are the best changes to iPadOS 26 … the ones you’ll use every day. (Many of the new iPadOS 26 features can also be found in the latest iPhone software, so be sure to also read our guide to everything new in iOS 26.)

In an unusual all-hands meeting Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook assured employees that Apple won’t drop the ball when it comes to artificial intelligence. Calling AI “as big or bigger” than the internet, Cook said the company will rise to the occasion.

“Apple must do this,” he said. “Apple will do this. This is sort of ours to grab. We will make the investment to do it.”

In addition to hyping the company’s AI efforts, Cook expressed excitement about all the “amazing” new Apple products in the pipeline. And Apple software chief Craig Federighi told his colleagues not to worry about the long-delayed smarter Siri — a key component of Apple’s AI-infused future.

Apple faces big challenges in its artificial intelligence efforts as another key researcher leaves the company to join Meta’s ambitious superintelligence project, according to a new report Tuesday. The departure marks the fourth AI expert to leave Apple’s foundation models team in just one month, raising questions about the future of Apple Intelligence and the company’s AI strategy.

With the surprise retirement of Apple COO Jeff Williams on Tuesday, all bets are off concerning the next CEO of Apple.

Williams, a 27-year Apple veteran, was widely regarded as the likely next CEO of Apple when Tim Cook eventually steps down.

But with Williams out of the running, Apple senior vice presidents John Ternus or Craig Federighi are now seen as the most probable candidates for the top spot.

But I think it could be someone else entirely — and it’s a pick I haven’t seen anyone else make.

Here’s who I think might be the next CEO of Apple, and why.

Apple’s struggle to develop artificial intelligence might reach the point where the iPhone-maker will need to outsource one of its core technologies: Siri. A promised AI upgrade for the voice assistant may be powered by large language models created by Anthropic or OpenAI, not Apple itself, according to an unconfirmed report published Monday.

But this is only a possibility — no decision has been made.

Early leaks about an upcoming Apple computer with an 18- to 20-inch folding display were vague about whether the device will be an iPad or the first Mac with a touchscreen. In the wake of the introduction of iPadOS 26, the answer now seems obvious: Apple’s extra-large folding tablet will be an iPad.

Recent comments by a high-level Apple executive about not merging macOS and iPadOS add weight to the theory.

Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, turned to a pair of metaphors in a recent interview to explain why macOS will not replace iPadOS on the iPad. Perhaps the most notable: “We don’t want to build sporks.”

Questions about iPad’s future came up after the unveiling at WWDC last week of iPadOS 26, which moves Apple’s tablet closer to the Mac than ever before.

Despite all the criticism, mockery and predictions of doom, the fact that Apple is lagging the pack in artificial intelligence isn’t a catastrophe. The AI boom has barely started, and average consumers remain doubtful about the technology.

More importantly, an Apple executive points out that the company doesn’t need to develop its own cutting-edge AI to benefit from the research done by other companies.

iPadOS 26 moves the iPad closer to the Mac than ever before. But don’t take the upcoming operating system as a stepping stone toward an eventual unification between iPadOS and macOS. That’s clearly not going to happen.

The reason can be summed up with a phrase that Craig Federighi, Apple’s head of software development, used in an interview at WWDC this week: “iPad’s gonna be iPad.”