iOS 12 isn’t even out yet but it seems that there are rumors about iOS 13 that are making their rounds. This is according to a tweet posted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in which he revealed that iOS 13 is expected to come with more iPad-focused features such as a redesign of the home screen.
At the moment the iPad’s home screen more or less looks like a larger version of the iPhone. It works but we suppose that there is a lot of space that could be better utilized, which iOS 13 is rumored to do as the home screen is said to be redesigned to be more focused on the iPad. Gurman also claims that an updated Files app will be part of the update, and also some macOS-like features such as tabs within apps.
Somewhat. iOS 13 “Yukon” will have a big iPad-focused feature upgrade as well, including an updated Files app. some other things in the works are tabs in apps like in MacOS, same app side by side, Apple Pencil stuff. The home screen redesign is iPad focused.
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) May 4, 2018
This is actually an interesting mention when you think about it. Recently John Gruber of Daring Fireball had reported that he had heard from second-hand sources that Apple could be planning cross-platform apps between iOS and macOS in 2019. If the iPad were to gain some macOS-like features in terms of design, this actually makes sense.
Apple had previously shrugged off the idea of merging iOS and macOS, claiming that that wasn’t what users wanted. However cross-platform apps might not be such a bad idea, similar to what Google has done with Android and Chrome OS. In any case take it with a grain of salt for now, but if true then 2019 could be a good year for iPad users.