Apple will roll out its Stage Manager feature to the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pros


Apple is sort of backtracking. With the deployment of its latest beta version of iPadOS, the Apple firm has reversed a decision made earlier in the year, that of reserving Stage Manager for its most recent iPads.

iPad A12X and A12Z affected

The functionality, originally reserved for iPads equipped with an Apple Silicon M1 chip, is one of the most interesting new features of iPadOS 16. It makes it possible to transform Apple tablets into imitation laptops by authorizing the execution of applications in windowed mode and connecting to an external display. According to Apple’s promises, Stage Manager allows you to run 8 applications in parallel, divisible on two screens, with the simple connection of a USB-C cable.

Unfortunately, until now Apple had preferred to reserve this very useful feature for its latest iPads, arguing that “only the iPad M1s combine high dynamic random access memory (DRAM) capacities and NAND flash memory that is high enough and generous enough to offer memory swap super fast“. Apparently the argument no longer holds since according to a statement made to Engadget, Stage Manager will arrive on all iPads equipped with A12X, A12Z and higher chips.

A limited Stage Manager

This basically means that the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros released in 2018 and 2020 will be compatible with the new feature, despite Apple’s rhetoric suggesting the machines weren’t powerful enough to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, a restricted version of Stage Manager will arrive on older iPads. Indeed, if it will be possible to run applications in windowed mode, iPads without an M1 chip will not be able to connect to a second monitor to make a dual screen. The number of applications on the screen will be limited to 4 rather than 8. Sacrifices which quite drastically limit the usefulness of the tool.

It must be said that the integration of Stage manager leaves much to be desired for the moment, with many bugs and instabilities, even on the iPad M1. Apple will also give itself some time to refine the functionality since the company has announced that “External display support for Stage Manager on M1 iPads will be available in a software update planned for later this year.

Advertising, your content continues below





Source link -98