Apple Explains Why Stage Manager is Limited to M1 iPads in New Statement

One of iPadOS 16's key new features is Stage Manager, which allows users to resize apps into overlapping windows for an improved multitasking experience. Stage Manager also fully supports an external display, allowing users to work with up to four apps on the iPad and up to four apps on the external display simultaneously.

ipados 16 stage manager
To the disappointment of some users, Stage Manager is limited to iPad models with an M1 chip, including the latest iPad Pro and iPad Air. In a statement shared with Rene Ritchie, Apple explained its rationale for this limitation by asserting that the Stage Manager experience "requires large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O, all of which are delivered by iPads with the M1 chip."

Apple's full statement, as shared by Ritchie:

Stage Manager is a fully integrated experience that provides all-new windowing experience that is incredibly fast and responsive and allow users to run 8 apps simultaneously across iPad and an external display with up to 6K resolution. Delivering this experience with the immediacy users expect from iPad's touch-first experience requires large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O, all of which are delivered by iPads with the M1 chip.

For example, the M1 iPad Pro is available with up to 16GB of RAM, compared to 6GB in the previous-generation iPad Pro. Apple also advertises the M1 iPad Pro as having 2x faster storage than the previous-generation model.

While the Stage Manager feature is limited to iPad models with an M1 chip, iPadOS 16 as a whole is compatible with all iPad Pro models, the third-generation iPad Air and newer, the fifth-generation iPad and newer, and the fifth-generation iPad mini and newer. The update is currently in beta for developers, with Apple planning to release a public beta in July. iPadOS 16 should be released to all users around September.

Related Roundups: iPad Air , iPad Pro
Related Forum: iPad

Top Rated Comments

Rory76 Avatar
25 months ago

Maybe, but why try to make new features work with old hardware that is approaching end of support?

I get it, nice for the customer, but as far as apple is concerned, it is adding complexity to the codebase for hardware that won't be viable for many more years.

And un-necessary complexity in software is a major source of bugs.
The 2020 iPad Pro is approaching the end of support??? ?
Score: 74 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiVolt Avatar
25 months ago
They could have probably made the feature work on older iPad Pro's without the external display support, but you could still have it on the device.

The 2018/2020 were pretty powerful chips.
Score: 69 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Think|Different Avatar
25 months ago
It’s lose/lose — everyone will just comment they are “lying” as if they know the intricacies of their inner workings, engineering pipeline, or business track. Whether we like it or not, there’s a reason they are a multi-trillion dollar company and it’s not listening to Redditors or MacRumors commentators.
Score: 59 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
25 months ago

It’s lose/lose — everyone will just comment they are “lying” as if they know the intricacies of their inner workings, engineering pipeline, or business track. Whether we like it or not, there’s a reason they are a multi-trillion dollar company and it’s not listening to Redditors or MacRumors commentators.
Yep, exact same with the whole iPhone 7 being dropped this year.
Explain how it’s clearly the lock screen and other features requiring the neural engine.
“Oh well they could easily just strip the new lock screen and everything else requiring NE out.”
Explain how ripping things out of the operating system, especially huge things like the Lock Screen, isn’t as easy as it seems and wouldn’t really be worth it to save one device.
“Oh well it’s forced obsolescence, because of course it is.”
Ask “how is it forced obsolescence if the iPhone 6S was literally the longest supported phone with a full seven years of updates, and the iPhone 7 is only one year behind that?”
“It just is OK, it’s forced obsolescence. It just is.”
Ask “well what about the fact that Apple didn’t change the support list for three OS’s in a row?”
“It’s still forced obsolescence because Apple bad my phone need to be supported forever company evil etc etc etc”
Literally no matter what Apple does people will complain.
Drop devices from the Support list and people complain.
Continue supporting old devices and people complain that they’re slow.
Introduce MacBook Airs in more muted colors and people complain that they are boring.
Introduce iMacs in fun shiny colors and people complain that they are childish.
Introduce M2 and people complain that it’s not that much different than M1.
Stick with M1 and people complain that Apples moving too slow and we should already be on M2.
Announce thin and light MacBook Pros and people complain that it should be thicker and heavier for bigger batteries and better cooling.
Introduce thicker and heavier MacBook Pro‘s and people complain that they’re tooth thick and too heavy.
And the list just goes on and on and on
Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BF1M Avatar
25 months ago
To sell more iPads. Let’s be real. It’s Siri all over again.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
25 months ago
Apple’s statement does not explain much. I think the simple answer is Apple wants us to upgrade to a new M1 iPad. Anyone remember the support for Siri.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
iOS 17 All New Features Thumb

iOS 17.5 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday April 21, 2024 3:00 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU...