Apple Tested Stage Manager on iPads Without M1 Chip and Wasn't Satisfied

[MacRumors]

As more post-WWDC interviews with Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi surface, we continue to learn more about Apple's reasoning behind iPadOS's new Stage Manager feature being limited to iPads with the M1 chip.

The latest interview was published by Forbes contributor David Phelan, who asked Federighi if Apple attempted to make Stage Manager work with iPad models without the M1 chip. In response, Federighi said Apple did some early testing of the feature on other iPads, but Apple was not satisfied with the experienced delivered on those devices.

"We began some of our prototyping involving those systems and it became apparent early on that we couldn't deliver the experience that that we were designing toward with them," he said. "Certainly, we would love to bring any new experience to every device we can, but we also don't want to hold back the definition of a new experience and not create the best foundation for the future in that experience. And we really could only do that by building on the M1."

In an interview with TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino shared earlier this week, Federighi said the M1 chip's performance ensures that all apps being used in Stage Manager are "instantaneously responsive," as customers expect from a touch-based interface.

In a statement last week, shared by Rene Ritchie, Apple asserted that Stage Manager "requires large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O, all of which are delivered by iPads with the M1 chip."

The M1 iPad Pro is available with up to 16GB of RAM and a Thunderbolt port, while the previous-generation iPad Pro features 6GB of RAM and a USB-C port. The M1 iPad Pro also features up to 2x faster storage and up to 40% faster GPU performance compared to the previous model. The fifth-generation iPad Air is also equipped with the M1 chip, but the iPad mini, entry-level iPad, and older iPad Pro models are not.

Introduced as part of iPadOS 16, Stage Manager allows users to resize iPad apps into overlapping windows for an improved multitasking experience. The feature fully supports an external display with up to 6K resolution, allowing users to work with up to four apps on the iPad and up to four apps on the external display simultaneously. A version of Stage Manager is also available on macOS Ventura for keeping windows front and center.

Article Link: Apple Tested Stage Manager on iPads Without M1 Chip and Wasn't Satisfied

 

[dantracht]

I grow weary of this controversy. From what I’ve seen, not something I would use that often anyway. At least the beta 1 version.

 

[antiprotest]

Then TWEAK THE THING until you're satisfied!!!

You roll out a whole bunch of things that stutter, crash, and burst into flames, and now suddenly you care about customer experience?

 

[c84216]

Apple needs to stop justifying this and stick to its guns.

People were screaming for a reason to have M1 when iPadOS didn't need that kind of HP. Now that its here, those same people are moaning those reasons make them upgrade.

You don't get to have it both ways.

 

[Naraxus]

This guy is a clown. They've had the ability to do this for years now with lesser architecture so what he's really saying is that his team is so incompetent they can't figure out how to do something others did years ago

 

[hovscorpion12]

[This is personal opinion] I have full respect for Apple. Perhaps maybe they did it for sales, but for the most part I believe them.

instead of launching it and have customer complaints about performance, they know it performs horrible

 

[saudor]

Buyer's Guide: 11" iPad Pro (Don't Buy), 12.9" iPad Pro (Caution)

huh? Arent the 11 and 12.9 usually updated at the same time? Shouldn't they both be "don't buy"?

 

[oneMadRssn]

I grow weary of this controversy. From what I’ve seen, not something I would use that often anyway. At least the beta 1 version.

I agree. I think the people hyper focused on this are losing sight of the forest for the trees. The larger point is that iPadOS is still quite lame in terms of productivity, and this one inconsistency is just one example of many that highlights it.

 

[mariusignorello]

Then TWEAK THE THING until you're satisfied!!!

You roll out a whole bunch of things that stutter, crash, and burst into flames, and now suddenly you care about customer experience?

Maybe they’re trying to turn that reputation around? Its usually never too late to fix mistakes.

 

[mariusignorello]

Want to know why there’s no calculator app on the iPad? Because resizable windows is only available on M series chips. They would be restricting a basic feature to “pro users” and Apple wouldn’t be able to live with it.

 

[t0rqx]

Then TWEAK THE THING until you're satisfied!!!

You roll out a whole bunch of things that stutter, crash, and burst into flames, and now suddenly you care about customer experience?

I agree. I feel that in general optimizations can be done better overall. I mean sure it is easy to just code and not do much optimizations cause the hardware is sufficient and keeps getting better really quickly. Imagine what people could get out of hardware even more, something Apple did/does.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I hope someday that 16 GB of iPad memory will help do something.

 

[Prabas]

How about display scaling so we could fit more content on the screen? Even really old Macbooks supported it but 2020 iPads don't.

 

[t0rqx]

Want to know why there’s no calculator app on the iPad? Because resizable windows is only available on M series chips. They would be restricting a basic feature to “pro users” and Apple wouldn’t be able to live with it.

for a second i thought you would suggest that only the M-series is able to show the results of a calculation instantly. 😂

 

[KPOM]

Buyer's Guide: 11" iPad Pro (Don't Buy), 12.9" iPad Pro (Caution)

huh? Arent the 11 and 12.9 usually updated at the same time? Shouldn't they both be "don't buy"?

I think the other factor is that the 10.9” iPad Air is cheaper than the 11” Pro and offers many of the same features.

 

[antiprotest]

I agree. I feel that in general optimizations can be done better overall. I mean sure it is easy to just code and not do much optimizations cause the hardware is sufficient and keeps getting better really quickly. Imagine what people could get out of hardware even more, something Apple did/does.

They can reduce things like shadows and transparency, motion, etc. And they can limit the number of apps that can be used by stage manager at the same time. They can do it, but they just won't.

I am more annoyed by how Apple spins this than whether it is available on older devices.

 

[mariusignorello]

for a second i thought you would suggest that only the M-series is able to show the results of a calculation instantly. 😂

Lol that would be ridiculous and definitely worth bitching at Apple over. 🤣

But this situation (stage manager) has its reasons, whether people like it or not. I foresee the calculator app becoming available when a majority of active devices are powered by M-series. Excluding a basic feature because of processing power is not their mode of operation.

Try using Sidecar on a Mac without HEVC encoding. It’s truly awful. I’m sure the same would go for this feature. Some developer needs to rip apart this build of iOS and get it to work unofficially and show people how bad it would be. But even then, why are people owed that proof? It won’t change anyone’s mind. And that’s a lot of unpaid time to waste.

 

[GMShadow]

"If you're explaining, you're losing."

 

[t0rqx]

They can reduce things like shadows and transparency, motion, etc. And they can limit the number of apps that can be used by stage manager at the same time. They can do it, but they just won't.

I am more annoyed by how Apple spins this than whether it is available on older devices.

Somehow, and I am now just judging what I saw, is they could have introduced a simplistic way to do multitasking. Like something similar to MacOS minimizing in the dock or expose. Bringing it all in one line so people would easily navigate between and in different operating systems “seamlessly”. Now it just feels like eyecandy “Aero” style Windows 7.

iPadOS has still a long way to go…

 

[Kashifnawaz85]

So 6 GB of RAM and blasing fast iPad pro on previous generations are not enough to do a tiny new feature. This is the clear example of Planned Absoluteness.

 

[oofio2461]

That Includes the A13X and A14/A15?

 

[mozumder]

People complain too much about engineering issues they have no idea about.

 

[8CoreWhore]

I'm OK with it... but why doesn't the iPad get Lock Screen customization, like the iPhone?

 

[hovscorpion12]

Apple should add it to beta 2 just to show it’s horrible. leave it untouched

 

[t0rqx]

"If you're explaining, you're losing."

Yep. This is just damage control. I believe they could have done so much more. At the same time M is amazing and I understand the transition just hope they do not ditch it after 2 years.