Apple's original iPad, launched in 2010, did not include native applications like a calculator or weather app. Reports from The Verge indicate that Apple is gearing up to introduce a native calculator app for iPads with the next-generation operating system, iPadOS 18, set to be announced at the WWDC on June 10. The absence of a calculator app in the first iPad was due to CEO Steve Jobs' disapproval of the recycled iPhone calculator app, leading developers to sideline its inclusion before the launch.
Despite more than a decade passing since the first iPad release, the iPads have still not included a built-in calculator app. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, shared in an interview with Marques Brownlee that Apple is hesitant to introduce a calculator app without offering something new and innovative in the space. Additionally, iPads lacked a Weather app until 2022 when it was finally integrated into the devices. Furthermore, media reports suggest that Apple might be redesigning the calculator app for upcoming macOS, with plans to bring a similar design to iPads, possibly indicating a shift towards MacBooks' calculator app design that Apple finds more fitting for the iPad.