Apple's latest acquisition could eventually boost its lackluster Photos app

Apple has a long history of acquiring successful apps and integrating their functionalities into its operating systems. Some relatively recent examples include Shazam, Dark Sky, Workflow, Primephonic, etc. To potentially boost its products’ native photo editing capabilities, Apple is buying the company behind Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator, and Photomator.

According to an official announcement, the Pixelmator team has agreed to get acquired by Apple. If the regulatory bodies approve this acquisition, Apple would own the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator, and Photomator apps currently offered on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS. For now, the company assures users that “there will be no material changes” made to its applications, and newcomers can still buy them from the App Store.

For those unfamiliar, Pixelmator’s apps offer advanced photo editing tools that rival some of Adobe’s solutions, such as Photoshop and Lightroom. While Adobe products are indispensable for many professionals and creators, Pixelmator Pro and Pixelmator appeal to those who want to avoid recurring fees through their one-time purchase option.

It’s hard to predict what will happen once the acquisition is approved. Since Apple bought Shazam, it has continued developing the app on all existing platforms, including Android. With Dark Sky, however, it killed the app and baked its technology into the built-in Weather app. Whether Apple retires the Pixelmator apps and integrates their essence into its native Photos application or offers them as standalone Pro software — similar to Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro — is yet to be seen.