Apple is planning to delay the release of iPadOS 16 by a month, according to a new report from Bloomberg. While iOS 16 is still expected to be released during its usual launch window in September, Apple needs more time to perfect the iPadOS 16 experience as it relates to Stage Manager.
iPadOS 16 delay
The report explains that Apple is now targeting a release of iPadOS 16 sometime in October as it works to improve the new Stage Manager multitasking feature.
It’s unclear whether Apple plans major changes to Stage Manager between now and its release in October. iPadOS 16 is currently on its fourth developer beta and is also available to public beta testers. Thus far, we’ve seen minor improvements to Stage Manager during the beta testing period.
During beta testing, the system has drawn criticism from some developers and users for its bugs, a confusing interface and lack of compatibility with most iPads. Staggering the release schedule will also allow Apple to put more engineering resources into completing iOS 16, the software update that will come included with the iPhone 14 in September.
Bloomberg also notes that delaying iPadOS 16 by one month pushes its release closer to a new iPad Pro launch. Apple is prepping a new iPad Pro with an M2 chip inside. It will also mean that iPadOS 16 is released closer to, or at the same time as, macOS Ventura.
This isn’t the first time that Apple has separated the releases of iOS and iPadOS. In 2019, iOS 13 was released to the public on September 19, while iPadOS 13 was released on September 24. In fact, the first version of iPadOS 13 that was released to everyone was technically iPadOS 13.1. iPadOS 13 itself was never released beyond developer and public beta testing.
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