As much as I like to see such a feature, I don’t think Apple will ever give it to us.
For some users (e.g. elderly) an iPad with its large screen would make a better phone. They don't walk around talking (anymore). Also when wearing headphones, there is no need to lift the phone to the ear. Same goes talking to the watch.
no, it's not cannibalization to upsell existing customers to higher margin items
Is that the case, though.
Their product lines overlap significantly in several areas. Yes, you cannot use the Phone app in an iPad, but you can do many of the things a Macbook does, and I would argue that many people would be sufficiently served with an iPad and a keyboard, rather than a Macbook.
Pretty much the only other app that you can use with an iPhone but not with an iPad (and neither a Macbook), for technical reasons, is Wallet.
I think that Apple does not offer either of those apps in iPads because they are not believed to be practical, given the form factor.
It just makes me sad that I have so much computing power in such a small form factor, and software just gimps it, both in capability and experience.
I actually use it to run citrix receiver and connect to the corporate network. hardly ever bring my work laptop home anymore.
https://www.theverge.com/23787477/apple-ipados-17-stage-mana...
You also still get to use the phone/tablet at the same time while it's driving the desktop.
Of course you're still using Android apps, just inside of resizable, movable windows, and not all apps behave well or work as well with mouse/keyboard as you might like.
But you can install linux shells, remote desktop apps, etc, and basically just use it as a thin-client.
There's also a way you can use Dex inside of a window on Windows and it let you drive your phone without actually touching it or doing some weird remote access stuff to your phone.
Dex is kind of a hidden gem of the Samsung devices. Once you hook up a dock with some I/O it's basically just turns your Android device into a desktop computer.
This might be even more interesting with Samsung TVs which allow wireless DeX. Have not seen this in action though.
I think you're a bit out of touch with Apple's design approach. Giving an ability to make phone calls from iPad, like taking photos from it, was already not ridiculous enough. Also, you'd need to have a bag with yourself all the time to carry that slap size device.
Cannibalising a public company's most successful product and profit source is extremely risky, especially for management. There is a reason this is so rare. It goes against many of our ingrained behaviours as humans.
So I don't think it's as obvious as you make out.
That means even then, the phone market was 1 billion devices a year. That was a much larger market than the stand alone music player market.
It was also clear that’s where the market was headed. Phone makers were already starting to sell music capable phones
I suspect they don't feel iPhone apps (at as they are coded by developers today) as a "KVM-style" desktop experience is 'making something better' than the Mac - or even really worth doing.
Weird take.
You do, however, need an iPhone to initially setup an Apple Watch, even the cellular version.
Although, interesting to know you had it on the series 4. I thought it was only on the newer series 8 and ultra, but I also just got my first apple watch about 4 months ago.