The 14-year nightmare of iPad owners is over. It will finally have a “feature” built into it, which is even available in dialers for 700 rubles

Many years later, Apple tablets will feature a proprietary calculator. Apple did not release it for 14 years, and the reason did not explain why it provoked ridicule, especially from owners of Android devices. Even the cheapest cell phones have a built-in calculator for the price of two glasses of coffee.

The long-awaited iPad update

Apple may integrate a proprietary calculator application into iPad tablets, writes the WCCFTech portal. The update will be part of the iPadOS 18 firmware, which is expected to premiere in June 2024 at the WWDC 2024 conference.

What’s more, there’s a good chance this will be the biggest new addition to iPadOS, given how long iPad owners have been waiting for the app. Typically, Apple quickly reacts only to the failure of its gadgets in sales – it reduced the production of the iPhone 14 Plus in a matter of weeks and, according to unofficial data, has already reduced the number of Vision Pro virtual reality glasses produced. CNews wrote that this gadget was of interest to consumers only in the first days after the start of sales – then numerous returns followed, and the number of unclosed pre-orders was gigantic.

As for software updates at the request of users, Apple can wait months before integrating one or another popular feature. However, in the case of the iPad calculator, it broke all imaginable and unimaginable records – the whole world had been waiting for its appearance for more than 14 years.

The lack of a calculator in the iPad has long been one of the arguments in the debate about which is better – the iPad or a tablet with comparable capabilities on Android

Experts from the profile portal Apple Insider called the lack of a calculator on Apple tablets a “long nightmare.”

Long wait

14 years is the age when a Russian citizen receives his first passport. This is exactly how old the very first iPad was – its premiere took place in January 2010, and it was presented by myself Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs), who passed away in the fall of 2011.

At that time, three generations of iPhone had already been released (2G, 3G and 3GS), and each of them had a built-in calculator. As for the first iPad, Apple deprived it of this “luxury”. Subsequently, absolutely all of the company’s tablets, including the cheapest iPad, the ultra-compact iPad mini and the very expensive iPad Pro, were supplied without a built-in calculator. At the same time, the price of the iPad Pro in the USA reaches $2399 (225 thousand rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate as of April 24, 2024) for a package with 1 TB and a cellular modem, and this does not include the stylus and case.

A calculator is a basic function of classic cell phones, and even more so of smartphones and tablets based on Android OS. There is even a built-in calculator in the legendary Nokia 3310 phone, released in 2000. You can buy it in 2024 only on ad sites, but the CNews editors found a built-in calculator in the modern TeXet 130-TM phone, which at the time of release cost less than 700 rubles.

The presence of a calculator in TeXet 130-TM is mentioned in the instructions on the manufacturer’s website.

Instead of one calculator – two

There is no exact data yet on what form the calculator will appear on the iPad. A standalone app is one option, but WCCFTech and Apple Insider also mention some kind of math function in the notes app. It is possible that Apple will eventually introduce both options into iPadOS 18.

You should also note that the calculator for the Apple tablet is mentioned exclusively in connection with iPadOS 18. It follows that not all existing iPads will receive the long-awaited option – Apple annually stops supporting some of them, as is the case with the iPhone.

For example, the current iPadOS 17 can be installed on a regular iPad of at least the sixth generation, iPad Air from the third generation, iPad mini 5 and later, as well as iPad Pro 10.5, and iPad Pro 12.9 from the second generation. All four iPad Pro 11 generations existing at the time of release are also supported.

But does it make sense

In fact, the vast majority of iPad users stopped waiting for an authentic Apple calculator many years ago. Some have gotten used to using web services for this, others use the Spotlight system search bar (it has a mathematical calculation function), but most have successfully mastered third-party applications, which have appeared in great abundance over the past 14 years.

Among the most popular is the Calculator application from the developer xNeat.com – it is distributed free of charge, although it has built-in microtransactions to unlock additional functions. There are also paid solutions – Solve, PCCalc, CALC Smart and many others. All of them are available for download in the AppStore.

Probably the only benefits of the Apple app when it arrives will be that it’s free and you don’t have to install it yourself. It is impossible to predict whether Apple will open the hunt for third-party calculators in the App Store.