Lately I've been wondering about the reasoning behind these hellish flat keyboards, and then I thought of the Touchbar and the following popped into my head: the ultra flat keyboards are just a segue into a new form factor with a full screen, tablet-like glass bottom half replacing the keyboards altogether. The current situation is just apple's way of getting everyone one step closer, while they work their way up (or rather down) to that goal.
Yes, a two screen device seems like the direction things are going in maybe 2-3 generations. Figuring out haptics seems to be the key (so to speak). This won't happen until after the ARM transition (and OLED), since they'll probably want to standardize the screen thickness between both halves, and be able to open it lie-flat.
Frankly, no. There are already a few laptop-form-factor-devices out there with a flat panel for a keyboard, and the experience is terrible. If a glass bottom was really the way to go, Apple wouldn't have moved towards physical iPad keyboards by promoting the smart keyboard covers for iPad Pros.
Disagree. Smart Keyboard is a great/necessary stopgap. Two screen mode would add a lot of expense, a significant UX redesign, and probably just incorporated into the device itself rather than an accessory, making the iPad an entirely different form factor. We're far away from that reality.
Does this make sense to anyone else?