Experts think the iPad is dead. They're wrong

Right now, it seems that Apple's cooking up a foldable iPhone that unfolds into something almost iPad mini-sized. At the same time, the rumour goes that they're finally sticking touchscreens on MacBooks. And so you might think: well, that's the iPad done for, isn't it?

That's the argument doing the rounds on some tech blogs and forum posts right now. And I have to admit, the logic seems sound on paper. Why carry a dedicated tablet when your phone unfolds to tablet size and your laptop gains touch capabilities?

But then you actually spend five minutes thinking about how you work.

Rise of the foldable

First, let's take a step back and be clear about what we're discussing here. As we've previously reported on Creative Bloq, lots of people reckon Apple's launching a foldable iPhone late this year, or early next year. The rumours are that when closed, it'll be a 5.3-inch phone. When opened, it becomes a 7.8-inch tablet; roughly iPad mini territory.

Meanwhile, the 2026 MacBook Pro refresh is supposedly going to bring a OLED screens with touch support, plus a thinner, lighter design. So the argument goes: between these two devices, who needs a dedicated tablet?

Well, I have to be honest. Me, that's who. And if you're a creative professional, probably you too.

The fold-up fallacy

Here's the thing about foldable phones: they're fundamentally compromised devices. You're asking one gadget to be two things, which means it's never quite perfect at either.

The foldable iPhone will unfold to roughly 7.8 inches, if the rumours are true. That's smaller than even the 8.3-inch iPad mini, never mind the 11-inch iPad Air. And those diagonal measurements can be a little misleading; the aspect ratio means you're getting something that's a fundamentally different shape, not just smaller. For scrolling through Instagram? Fine. For actual creative work? Not so much.

Try sketching on a 7.8-inch screen that's also thicker because it needs to fold. Try colour grading video on it. Try doing any serious photo retouching. I'd expect you'd need a smaller stylus than the Apple Pencil, which means less battery, less precision, less comfortable to hold for extended work sessions. And let's not start on the crease. Samsung's been at this for years and its team are only just getting close to solving it.

A laptop can't be a tablet

The touchscreen MacBook Pro argument is even more baffling to me. Yes, I dearly want touch on my Mac. But here's what I don't want: to use my laptop like a tablet. Have you tried using a touch screen on a vertical surface for more than five minutes? Your arm gets tired, surprisingly quickly.

A MacBook Pro is still a laptop. It sits on your desk. The screen is vertical. You're not going to be happily sketching away on it for hours, or marking up PDFs in bed, or handing it to a client to flick through your portfolio. The form factor fundamentally matters, and a laptop form factor is wrong for these tasks.

What the iPad actually is

Here's what people are missing: the iPad isn't just a screen size. It's a form factor, a workflow, a completely different relationship with computing.

When I'm sketching concepts, I want my iPad Pro on my lap, Apple Pencil in hand, nothing between me and the canvas. When I'm reviewing work on the sofa, I want something I can hold in one hand, swipe through with the other. When I'm presenting stuff to clients, I want to hand them a device that's immediately intuitive.

The iPad is unapologetically in-between, and for creative work, that's not a niche; it's constant. The middle ground exists because it's useful.

People use iPhones, MacBooks and iPads every day, for different things. The iPad isn't a compromise; it's purpose-built for specific jobs. And believe me, that's not about to change, just because Apple folded a phone screen.