Apple announced iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 during WWDC 2022. Traditionally, both the iPhone and iPad operating systems would usually be released together, or at least close to each other. But for this version, it looks like the tablet software will come a month late.
Bloomberg reports that while Apple intends to push iOS 16 out in September as the company usually does, iPadOS 16 will have to wait until October. This delay is partly due to the needing more time to work on iPad’s multitasking capabilities, specifically the Stage Manager feature. This was among the highlights of the new tablet operating system, alongside macOS Ventura, when it was first revealed a couple of months ago.
The decision to stagger the releases is probably unsurprising for those who have been keeping an ear out for the general consensus of the iPadOS 16 beta. Testers have cited bugs and a confusing interface with regards to the Stage Manager feature. They also note its lack of compatibility with most iPads.
On one hand, this should have been expected, since Apple announced that this will only be a feature that’s available to iPads running the M1 chip. Which limits it to the latest iPad Pro and iPad Air models. But on the other, 9to5Mac reports that there are still inconsistencies on this front, because the base model iPad Air 5, which comes with 64GB of storage space, does not support the Stage Manager feature despite running the M1 chip.
The report also notes that Apple previously mentioned that the initial release of both iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 would not have all the features announced during WWDC. In other words, some features will only be added in later patches. On that note, one wonders why would Apple not just release both simultaneously, and only add in Stage Manager later once it has done the fine tuning.
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