Apple Will Follow Samsung In Adding Multitasking To iPad

Samsung can easily say they did something before Apple — allowing multitasking on their tablets (and even phones). At WWDC today, Apple announced that multitasking will be available on the iPad with iOS 9. Macrumors has the news.

“Today at WWDC, Apple confirmed that multitasking would be coming to the iPad with iOS 9. The new feature will allow users to view, and sometimes interact with, two apps simultaneously in multiple ways.”

Macrumors goes on to note that Split View will first come to the iPad Air 2 and it allows a user to open two apps at the same time and interact with them with absolutely no limitations. While Apple certainly wants you to think this is groundbreaking, this is something Samsung figured out how to do two years ago. Though many people accuse Samsung of being an Apple clone lately (see the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge), nobody can claim Samsung copied Apple; this time, it’s the other way around.

Though Apple is still making huge profits thanks to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, their tablet market is falling. One of the reasons is because the huge iPhone 6 Plus has taken away the need for people to buy separate tablets. The iOS mobile operating system on the iPad is also seen as outdated, especially when one can run a full desktop operating system on the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 or even the regular Surface. 3.

Apple’s answer to their dwindling tablet market is called the iPad Pro. According to some sources, the iPad Pro will have a 13-inch screen and run a variant of Apple’s current OS X operating system. It will also have a pressure-sensitive stylus. MacRumors believes the device will be released in late 2015 and compared it to previous iPads.

“While rumors on the larger iPad are somewhat scarce, it’s believed the tablet will closely resemble the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3, offering a thin chassis and slim bezels.”

The article also notes that iPad Pro may measure 7mm and it could include several iPad Air 2 features like 2GB of RAM and Touch ID. Even though MacRumors is the best when it comes to rumor accuracy, they seem to be basing their assumptions on other reports as well. People expected Apple to reveal more information Monday about the upcoming iPad Pro, but that didn’t happen.

The full consumer version of iOS 9 will be available this fall. Whether or not the updated operating system actually helps iPad sales remains to be seen.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]