WPS has become Apple's top spender.

"Why does your next computer have to be a traditional computer?" This classic Apple slogan once painted the ultimate picture of mobile productivity for the iPad. However, when users attempt to handle a complex report or a rigorous contract on the iPad, the "crippled" office software with simplified functions and disordered formats often shatters these illusions.

This is not only a pain point for the product but also a gap in the ecosystem: The iPad, whose hardware performance has reached the level of laptops, has always lacked a truly professional office software that matches it.

This gap is being filled by a Chinese software. On March 4th, Kingsoft Office officially released a native desktop - level Office deeply customized for iPadOS - WPS for Pad, which quickly topped the free download list on the Apple App Store.

This is not just a product update but may also be a landmark event: A Chinese company, with its profound understanding of the mobile ecosystem and long - term innovation in technical architecture, is trying to redefine the experience standard of global office software in the mobile era.

01

The "Desktop - Level" Necessity in the Apple Ecosystem

As of March 17th, WPS for Pad still ranked first on the free iPad App download list. The continuous user enthusiasm is actually an inevitable result of the long - term efforts of the product's R & D team.

Liu Dan, the deputy general manager of the Office R & D department of Kingsoft Office, revealed to 36Kr that WPS for Pad triggered a user boom during the product's internal testing phase: Not only did a large number of users ask for activation codes through internal channels, but the official WPS community was also flooded with posts asking for internal testing codes.

This reflects that iPad users are full of expectations for a more feature - rich mobile Office application.

In the global tablet market landscape, Apple has always held an absolute leading position. According to Omdia data, the global tablet market continued to recover in 2025, with the annual shipment volume increasing by 9.8% year - on - year to 162 million units. In the fourth quarter of last year, Apple led with a 44.9% market share, with a shipment volume of 19.6 million units, a year - on - year increase of 16.5%.

However, in contrast, the penetration rate of the iPad in the business office scenario has always been limited. At the hardware level, the performance of the iPad Pro equipped with the M - series chips is now comparable to that of laptops. But at the software level, the iPad App Store has always lacked an office application that can match the function depth and interaction efficiency of the PC version.

This experience gap between the "upward - trending iPad hardware and downward - trending software" is precisely the opportunity for WPS to use its technical accumulation to fill the short - board of the Apple ecosystem in the professional office scenario.

In the past, Apple tried to build its own office application ecosystem through self - developed software such as iWork. However, iWork, which grew within the iOS ecosystem, has natural limitations in document format compatibility and is difficult to meet the professional needs of enterprises in terms of complex format rendering and function depth. This has led to the iPad always lacking a perfect solution in the professional office field.

Against the backdrop of the global tablet market gradually entering the stock competition, Apple is "opening up" its ecosystem to a certain extent by finding the most effective partners to achieve the ultimate experience in order to cope with the competition in user scale and loyalty.

Therefore, the launch of WPS for Pad is not only driven by the iPad's positioning as a professional productivity tool but also a direct reflection and an inevitable choice of market demand.

As a result, this application has continuously topped the free download list within a few days of its launch.

"The core value of WPS for iPad is very clear, which is to enable users to obtain the same office experience on the iPad as on the computer," Liu Dan emphasized. The operating habits of WPS on the computer can be completely transferred to the iPad, allowing users to handle complex work tasks efficiently without additional learning and adaptation.

From the perspective of the market landscape, Apple has filled the gap in professional office in the iPadOS ecosystem, while WPS has achieved full coverage of the world's mainstream tablet ecosystems such as Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi, realizing strategic positioning.

02

Why WPS?

Realizing a desktop - level office experience on a tablet that is no different from that on a PC is not just a simple interface transplantation. It is an underlying project of "transcoding" the complex logic based on mouse and keyboard interaction into a touch - first architecture.

The reason why WPS can achieve this is due to its accumulation under the value of "building the enterprise with technology" and the large backbone and unified kernel technology system developed under this value.

As of the third quarter of 2025, the monthly active device number of WPS globally has exceeded 669 million. Previously, it had achieved kernel unification on mainstream operating systems such as Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and HarmonyOS. This means that WPS for Pad is not a simple interface transplantation but shares the same underlying computing engine with the PC version, which fundamentally ensures the format compatibility and consistent rendering of multi - terminal documents.

"Strictly speaking, the R & D of WPS for Pad only took a little over a year, but this is actually an inevitable result of Kingsoft Office's 38 - year accumulation of 'building the enterprise with technology,'" Liu Dan explained to 36Kr. This long - term in - depth exploration of cross - platform technology over decades has built an insurmountable time and technology barrier, enabling WPS to achieve a high degree of consistency in multi - terminal experience with lower marginal costs.

From an industry perspective, Microsoft, another giant in the office industry, has long relied on the bundled ecosystem of "Windows + Office" for its business model. Out of strategic protection of the core value of the desktop version and subscription revenue, its mobile products adopt a lightweight strategy, and there are differences in function integrity compared with the desktop version, which means there is still room for expansion in the function depth of its mobile version.

In contrast, WPS has chosen a path of active opening and connecting the ecosystem, while Microsoft tends to maintain the high - value closed - loop that has been operating for decades. There is no absolute superiority or inferiority between the two strategies, but in today's era of increasingly frequent mobile office and experience - first, the former's layout is obviously more in line with users' core needs for office software to have "full - function and consistent experience across all platforms."

03

AI - Powered Office Upgrade, Chinese Software Leading the Way

With the rapid development of large - model technology, the efficiency competition in AI - powered office is upgrading from tool assistance to kernel reconstruction. Kingsoft Office has built a more native technical layout and core advantages in the field of AI - powered office with the previously released WPS AI 3.0.

The newly released WPS for Pad comes with WPS AI 3.0 built - in, and its breakthrough lies in fundamentally changing the relationship model between AI and office software.

Traditional "AI add - on" tools are like independent chatbots, separated from the office software itself, often resulting in a large amount of manual format adjustment for the generated content. The core of WPS's technology to break through such limitations lies in its "two - way transformation" architecture.

Specifically, on the one hand, through AI - native reconstruction, this architecture modularizes and standardizes WPS's massive professional functions and fully opens them for AI to call; on the other hand, it enables the AI model to deeply adapt to and understand the document structure and format rules, so that the content generated by AI can directly conform to the typesetting specifications without secondary adjustment, truly realizing the in - depth integration of AI capabilities and office scenarios.

This means that users only need to describe the task, and the AI agent can independently schedule a series of underlying functions and deliver the finished office product with one click.

This is not just a superposition of functions but a revolution in the workflow.

Liu Dan revealed that to adapt to diverse underlying environments, the team had to polish the kernel to be extremely robust and flexible, ensuring consistent output in various underlying environments. Although this process was difficult, it also strengthened WPS's cross - platform capabilities and engineering level of the "unified kernel." Now, when doing in - depth native development for the iPad, many underlying experiences are similar, which has become WPS's unique advantage.

In addition, as a domestic software, WPS has natural agility and compliance advantages in accessing the local AI ecosystem and achieving in - depth integration. This is not only a functional difference but may also gradually build a structural advantage in the implementation efficiency, data compliance, and customization depth of AI - powered office.

As global AI competition enters a deeper stage, this close coupling with the local ecosystem is becoming a non - negligible competitive edge.

04

From Ecosystem Connector to Rule - Maker

The launch of WPS for Pad marks that Kingsoft Office has achieved full coverage of the world's mainstream tablet ecosystems. From a business perspective, this is far more than just adding a download channel. Behind it is a profound change in the growth logic and industry positioning.

First of all, realizing a desktop - level office experience on the iPad is undoubtedly seizing the entrance to high - end productivity.

Currently, the iPad, especially the Pro series, is still a synonym for high - end mobile productivity and a gathering place for valuable users. Successfully deploying a desktop - level application here can naturally strengthen the "professional" and "reliable" tool attributes of WPS. This can not only enhance its brand image among high - end user groups and in the Apple developer ecosystem but also feed back its full - platform business and attract broader user recognition.

Secondly, by filling the last piece of the Pad ecosystem puzzle, WPS has built a moat for truly seamless office across all scenarios.

When users can obtain a consistent office experience, lossless documents, and continuous services on Windows PCs, Macs, Android phones, or tablets of various brands, their switching costs will become extremely high. Currently, WPS is building this "AI - powered office new world" across devices and operating systems with full - ecosystem coverage.

When it comes to real - world business returns, WPS is also opening up new imagination space for paid value.

On the one hand, the desktop - level professional functions naturally provide a new fulcrum for adding value to the membership service; on the other hand, as representatives of high - end productivity tools, iPad users themselves are a group of valuable users with strong willingness and ability to pay. The synergy of the two is expected to increase WPS's ARPU value.

However, the strategic significance of WPS for Pad goes far beyond the calculation of commercial value. It is a signal that an innovation paradigm originating from the Chinese market is starting to gain global influence.

In the era of mobile Internet, Chinese applications have accumulated unique experiences in providing ultimate user experiences, agile iterations, and complex ecosystem collaboration. WPS combines this experience with the technical path of a unified kernel to create the first truly desktop - level Office experience on the iPad.

This positioning has quietly changed the game: WPS has transformed from following the framework of international office software giants to becoming a rule - maker that redefines the office experience in key scenarios.

Now, it's not hard for electronics enthusiasts who follow the tablet industry to notice that when domestic manufacturers enter the international market, there is always a PPT page in their overseas press conferences that specifically emphasizes the positioning of "productivity tools," and the core display partner on this page is often WPS.

Now that WPS for Pad has topped the free download list on the iPad App Store, it means that the product philosophy represented by WPS - more flexible, more integrated, and consistent experience across all platforms - is being recognized by the world's top - tier ecosystems.