There’s no technical reason an iPad can’t run full-blown MacOS or even Linux & Windows; Apple just locks down the hardware to prevent it. I dream of one day having strong enough right-to-repair protections that companies won’t do that anymore and we’ll be able to install whatever we want on the equipment we’ve purchased, but I’m also not holding my breath for it.
This is more bark than bite, imo. They’re just threatening to withhold products at this point, but as the article points out:
So… go right ahead. Let’s see how this really plays out.