Apple will not create a “converged” MacBook and iPad, according to chief executive Tim Cook.

Speaking to Independent.ie , Cook denied that the death of computers such as the Mac was imminent and said that there would be a market for such traditional personal computers for the foreseeable future.

“We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad,” said Cook. “Because what that would wind up doing, or what we’re worried would happen, is that neither experience would be as good as the customer wants. So we want to make the best tablet in the world and the best Mac in the world. And putting those two together would not achieve either. You’d begin to compromise in different ways.”

Last week, Cook appeared to suggest that PCs had outlived their usefulness.

“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?” he was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.

However, it is understood that Cook was referring to Windows PCs and not Apple ones.

“We don’t regard Macs and PCs to be the same,” he said.

Cook said that both Macs and iPads have a strong future, despite large advances in power and graphics made by his company’s latest iPad Pro device.

“It’s true that the difference between the X86 [personal computer] and the A-series [Apple iPad architecture] is much less than it’s ever been,” says Cook. “That said, what we’ve tried to do is to recognise that people use both iOS and Mac devices. So we’ve taken certain features and made them more seamless across the devices. So with things like Handoff we just made it really simple to work on one of our products and pick it up and work on the next product.”

Cook says he’s “bullish” on reversing iPad sales declines of recent years.

He said that he has personally taken to the device as his principal work machine when travelling. He now travels, he said, only with an iPad Pro and an iPhone.

Some analysts have predicted an ‘inflection point’ in the rivalry between laptops and tablets. Where tablets have been falling off in sales, newer ‘pro’ devices are being touted as a different breed.

Computer benchmark tests suggest that Apple’s new iPad Pro has faster performance and graphics than most PCs.

Meanwhile, Cook declined to comment about any “plans” for an electric car that the company is reportedly making.

“I don’t have anything to announce about our plans,” he says. “But I think there’s some significant changes in the automobile industry over the next several years with electrification and autonomous driving. And there’s a need for a focus on user interface. And so I think there’s a lot of changes that will go on there.”

Several reports say that Apple is planning to build a car. Tesla founder Elon Musk said that Apple has hired a number of Tesla engineers and that he’s “glad they're doing an EV [electric vehicle]”.

Online Editors