Fourteen years after its first release, the iPad finally welcomes a native Calculator app to iPadOS in 2024. Apple’s head of system interface development, Ty Jordan, explained in an interview with journalist and blogger Christopher Lawley why the company chose patience over a quick port. Reports from Wccftech broadcast.
The design challenge, according to Jordan, was not simply scaling the iPhone calculator to fit the iPad. Apple took a closer look at the iPad’s distinct capabilities and the way users interact with the device and its accessories, such as the Apple Pencil, before bringing the tool to the larger screen.
The aim was to reimagine math on the iPad and inject a small touch of magic. That vision birthed a new feature inside Math Notes that lets users write equations by hand and receive results in the same format, preserving the handwritten feel while delivering precise outcomes.
In the early days, the lack of a calculator on the iPad sparked jokes and memes across the internet. One popular tale suggested that Steve Jobs vetoed the calculator when shown an extended interface from the iPhone, a story that has lived on in tech folklore.
The native Calculator app emerged as a central feature of iPadOS 18, a release that arrived with a focus on empowering iPad users to handle everyday computations more seamlessly than ever before.
On another note, trends in pricing and market dynamics occasionally surface in unrelated regions. In one instance, discussions arose about price movements for flagship devices in a distant market, illustrating how global perception can shift even when hardware offerings remain steady.