Apple's Craig Federighi Further Explains Why Stage Manager is Only for M1 iPads

[bondr006]

He forgot to mention that iPad sales are in the gutter. Technically, even if what he says is true, they could probably have gotten away with 3 virtual workspaces instead of 4 on older iPads. 2018+ iPads are plenty fast.

Personally, the more I think about it, the less I like the idea of not utilizing a big chunk of my screen real estate just to switch between apps. Most people I know don’t swap between groups of apps, either, which stage manager seems to have been optimized for… like virtual desktops.

I'd sure like own that gutter.

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[AnotherOpinion]

"We really designed Stage Manager to take full advantage [of the M1 chip]," said Federighi. "If you look at the way the apps tilt and shadow and how they animate in and out. To do that at super high frame rates, across very large displays and multiple displays, requires the peak of graphics performance that no one else can deliver."

So don't include the shadows or the animation, etc. Seriously this is possible… you are just choosing NOT to included it because you want everyone to buy a new iPa with M1.

 

[svish]

Could have done with less than four apps for the previous generation iPad Pro. Anyway bad that the 2020 iPad Pro(the previous gen) is missing out. Going forward, I think all the new features will be reserved for M1 and newer iPads only.

 

[ian87w]

"We really designed Stage Manager to take full advantage [of the M1 chip]," said Federighi. "If you look at the way the apps tilt and shadow and how they animate in and out. To do that at super high frame rates, across very large displays and multiple displays, requires the peak of graphics performance that no one else can deliver."

So don't include the shadows or the animation, etc. Seriously this is possible… you are just choosing NOT to included it because you want everyone to buy a new iPa with M1.

Of course, nobody asked him "why does it work on that intel macbook then?"

 

[ian87w]

So, as a software engineer, are you saying that you couldn’t design the system to fit the specs?

Seems like a choice Apple made to fit certain specs. And their customer base, who bought iPads that in some cases rival MacBook pro prices, are pissed.

Everyone who’s upset has their viewpoints, and those viewpoints are valid, no matter how much experience they have programming. It’s a valid point that the competitor’s tablets have had more ram (they needed it) and therefore similar capabilities for years. It’s a valid point that Apple’s main chips are likely capable of stage manager, perhaps with less animation/fewer apps/slower, even if they don’t have the ram or other system hardware that’s capable of it. And, as customers that dumped a boatload of money on their iPad Pros, they are right to feel betrayed by this move, even if Apple couldn’t do anything *today* to make it work.

Too many times of screwing over your customers (even if the “screwing over” is in the customers’ minds) and the customers will make different choices.

I’ll probably keep buying Apple. But I’m certainly not going to buy another iPad Pro setup with an 12.9” iPad ($1100,) pen ($130,) and keyboard ($350, total $1,580.) I’d rather spend that money on a full laptop and save some money. The M2 Air will be $1,200, has double the storage, and should be fully supported for a minimum of 5 years and will probably function pretty well for a minimum of 7.

Will this hurt Apple? No. They won’t care, and they’ll keep making a boatload of money. So whatever. But they screwed over people who bought really expensive kit from them. So in my opinion, they deserve the ********* they’ve gotten here.

The ones who got the shortest end of the stick are iPad Pro 2020 buyers. Those iPads were released in 2020, but unfortunately it used 2018 hardware (A12Z is just A12X with an extra GPU core, practically the same). So it sucks now that something that was released just 2 years ago immediately cannot handle a new feature. I can understand 2020 iPP users might be upset.

 

[ggibson913]

So Apple wants to sell more iPads so they end of life every single one that isn’t an M1. I smell a huge opportunity for Surface.

 

[HaddockW]

I find it funny how angry everyone is for not getting Stage Manager.
I am sure once it's actually out people will realise that it's utterly useless for anything but the very biggest of iPad as the app they know and love is now running at 50% screen real estate.
And even then I bet a lot of people will go back to using apps fullscreen instead of having app icons and minimized app screenshots all over the place.

you are wrong. I have it on my 11 inch. I can stretch 80-90% which covers most the screen. It hides the left UI element. And you can stack apps on top of each other in groups. makes it handy to toggle between each other. So you can have Safari taking up 80%, notes behind it bareley visible but still clickable to alternative between the two. There is so much more you can do that has not been made to public videos.

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

What do you mean? Stage Manager is coming to all Macs that support Ventura, including Intel Macs…

And you picked that up where in that interview?

 

[stiligFox]

And you picked that up where in that interview?

I picked that up from Apple’s official page on macOS Ventura. The interview was about iPadOS, not macOS…

The preview page for Ventura clearly lists which features are limited to certain Mac’s and Stage Manager is not one of them. Just as the preview page for iPadOS 16 clearly states Stage Manager is limited to M1 iPad only.


Plus the people that have started testing Ventura on both real Intel Mac’s and hackintoshes have started Stage Manager works, albeit a little wonky since it’s the first dev beta.


Craig was noting that not every Mac user will use Stage Manager because there are already many ways to multitask on macOS, this will be another tool in the arsenal that will hopefully help some Mac users. I know it’ll certainly help me on my Intel hackintosh!

 

[rui no onna]

I find it funny how angry everyone is for not getting Stage Manager.
I am sure once it's actually out people will realise that it's utterly useless for anything but the very biggest of iPad as the app they know and love is now running at 50% screen real estate.
And even then I bet a lot of people will go back to using apps fullscreen instead of having app icons and minimized app screenshots all over the place.

Lol, running the beta on 11” and yes, I find Stage Manager a massive waste of the already limited display area (even with More Space enabled). I’m back to using it the same way I’ve always done - single app, fullscreen.

 

[bondr006]

Exactly, cuz I bought an iPad just a month ago, and Apple decided to make it obsolete already, instead of waiting 5 or more years.

What iPad was that? M1 iPA has been out for 2 months, and M1 iPP over a year, and rumors about iPadOS 16 for months. Seems like buying a non M1 iPad is your bad.

 

[Joe Dohn]

Nah...he's WAAAAAY less annoying than iJustine, even if they really are both Apple insiders (I'm not so sure he actually is). On the other hand I'd happily pin a picture of her to dartboard.

At least she's not ruining risking her credibility to defend the 2018 iPad is not capable to multitask. 🤣

 

[hagar]

I was never happy with my iPad and I use it about every three months. Every time I want to use it I need to first charge it.
Then I sign some document with the Apple Pencil which I also need to charge first.
And then I remember that this is a really capable computer, but I can't do any programming on it.

Then you clearly are not the target audience for this machine. Stage Manager will not fix this.

 

[Joe Dohn]

We already have complaints with Stage Manager. "This isn't real multitasking." "It wastes desktop space. Why is there so much empty space wasted?" "How come the apps aren't infinitely resizable?" "My Mac can open dozens of windows. How come this is restricted to only 8?" "How come some apps will only open full screen?" "How come my phone apps can't share space with other apps?"

And the complaints go on. Apple loses with many users no matter what they do.

When in iPadOS 17, they introduce an M2-only feature like ProRes video because there's ProRes encoders/decoders on the M2 and not on the M1, we'll hear more complaints. "Why couldn't they do a software codec?" And so on, and so on.

I have a crazy theory.

Maybe the complaints that Stage Manager "wastes desktop space" are not completely unfounded?
Maybe it DOES waste space? 🤯🤯
Maybe Apple could keep refining Stage Manager based on this feedback? 😲

I know. CRAZY, right? As if angry user feedback could EVER be grounded in something and EVER be valuable. 😡

 

[darkpaw]

IMO the last few releases of iPadOS have been lacklustre, and not really given me anything extra, or anything really that makes the experience of using it "magical" like they used to. That kind of happens as tech evolves as there's less and less to add to it. Stage Manager not being available on my current 2020 11" iPad Pro isn't enough to make me want to replace it, so I'm pretty sure I won't be buying a new iPad until my current one dies.

 

[MajorFubar]

At least she's not ruining risking her credibility to defend the 2018 iPad is not capable to multitask. 🤣

She purposefully plays the dumb blonde but very rich bimbo character who wouldn't have the IT literacy to argue one side of the other. Now I've no idea if that's her for real, or a persona. Probably a persona, and Apple's idea of a double bluff. When someone's act is to look so fundamentally thick (stupid) they couldn't possibly be a biased marketing tool, you hire them as a marketing tool.

 

[imnotthewalrus]

This comment section reminds me of a comedy bit by Louis C.K. where he's talking about early WiFi on airplanes.

You are dead on!

 

[Joe Dohn]

She purposefully plays the dumb blonde but very rich bimbo character who wouldn't have the IT literacy to argue one side of the other. Now I've no idea if that's her for real, or a persona. Probably a persona, and Apple's idea of a double bluff. When someone's act is to look so fundamentally thick (stupid) they couldn't possibly be a biased marketing tool, you hire them as a marketing tool.

She hired Linus (from Linus Tech Tips) to build a 150 TB Mac server. And in the corresponding video, you see there are many fancy backup tools she knows how to use. So, you may dislike her, but she's smarter than she seems.

 

[imnotthewalrus]

I really don’t see the issue. When you purchased a previous iPad, it didn’t have Stage Manager. You bought it anyway, used it every day, were happy with it.

And now you complain it will not be able to do something it never could do in the first place.

I am with you. I understand disappointment (I was disappointed my 4th Gen iPad Air didn't support Center Stage, and I still have a few payments left!) but your statement is dead on.

 

[Joe Dohn]

I am with you. I understand disappointment (I was disappointed my 4th Gen iPad Air didn't support Center Stage, and I still have a few payments left!) but your statement is dead on.

Because maybe a few users saw all the raw potential of the iPad, and maybe expected Apple to address its flaws to make it more like a real computer. But that's not going to happen for them, and the iPad is locked out.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Next they will be telling us we need an M2 iPad if you want the Safari sidebar to reliably remember what it was doing the last time you used it. Ten seconds ago. If you want the sidebar to open and close intelligently like it always used to, you’ll have to wait for M3 Infinite.

 

[johnhackworth]

I wonder if prices will depreciate for Non-M1 iPad's since it does not support the Stage Manager.

Given that my 2020 iPad Pro is already deprecated I imagine that its value will decrease commensurately….

 

[johnhackworth]

Will you be sending a message to Apple by voting with your wallet and purchase Samsung devices going forward?

Not addressed to me. However, personally, I’m never buying another iPad Pro. Cheap iPad or no tablet at all for me from now on.

 

[MajorFubar]

She hired Linus (from Linus Tech Tips) to build a 150 TB Mac server. And in the corresponding video, you see there are many fancy backup tools she knows how to use. So, you may dislike her, but she's smarter than she seems.

Yes, it's all a very clever marketing act.

 

[bondr006]

Truth is iPad sales is flat and they need consumers to pay for the space ship campus so the feature is software gimped on non-M1 models.

Where do you find iPad sales are flat? Again, I would like to own these flat revenue figures.

Apple Statistics (2025)

Apple is one of the most influential and recognisable brands in the world, responsible for the rise of the smartphone with the iPhone. Valued at over $2 trillion in 2021, it is also the most valuable technology company in the world. Originally known for desktop computers, Apple was one of the...

www.businessofapps.com