There's still an iOS 27 restore image for the 2018 Pro? A12X/A12Z listed in the file name too. There's a lot of confusion over supported devices here. I think the dev page should be canonical.
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iPadOS 27 Drops Support for a Wave of iPads
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frou
macrumors 68000
That's the thing with the coarse-grained way they do it. The very existence of the 2018 iPP's with 4GB RAM screws over yours, because they either support both or none.
garirry
macrumors 68000
It's strange that they let all the iPhone models that were on 26 get to 27, seemingly admitting that 26 was deficient, but with the iPad they still did the usual purge. With macOS, fair enough, they promised they'd drop Intel and they did. Presumably my 9th gen will end support at 27. Hopefully if it's the stability and QoL update it's been promised to be, at least it'll be on a good version.
FYI, although in the Apple Developer site there's a common IPSW for both iPad Pro 11 1st gen (A12X) and the 2nd gen (A12Z), Finder will not let you restore the A12X one with this IPSW as it will complain that this iPadOS version is not compatible, so it is officially unsupported (I've just tried).
Edit: although curiously enough, the IPSW itself is named "iPad_Pro_A12X_A12Z_27.0_24A5355q_Restore.ipsw"
Edit: although curiously enough, the IPSW itself is named "iPad_Pro_A12X_A12Z_27.0_24A5355q_Restore.ipsw"
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bodonnell202
macrumors 68030
I wonder if they are moving back towards alignment between which chips they will support with iOS and iPadOS since iPadOS is dropping most of the A12 devices (only exception being the A12Z iPad Pros) and iOS 26 already doesn't support any A12 devices.
iPad Air 3rd Gen (A12, 3GB RAM) did a fantastic job. but I'm going to keep it on iPadOS 18.
Wow. I’m surprised. I thought all non M processors would be dropped. Not the m1
Someone will invent a crack to run 27 on older iPads
Someone will invent a crack to run 27 on older iPads
Maybe it was a build chain thing. This IPSW does not update the A12X Pro.
iHorseHead
macrumors 68020
Not sure. I upgraded from iPad mini 2 to iPad 9th generationn 5 years after the support was dropped because HBO dropped the support to their app and I also can't browse the web on iPad mini 2 anymore. There are supported browsers but those are incredibly slow.
On my current iPad I only use Pixelmator and Apple TV and very rarely surf the web. I've decided that it'll be my last iPad.
I still use Apple Watch SE 1st gen and I see no reason to upgrade. It has crossed my mind because of the battery life, but I won't upgrade yet. I am sure there are many people like me.
I want to upgrade my M1 MacBook soon though.
iPad Air M1 is NOT dropped. It's labeled "iPad Air (5th generation)". So according to Apple's website -- "iPad Air 11-inch (4th generation and later)", it is still supported.
Basically, every iPad model released on the year 2020 or later is still supported. That's actually not bad.
The M1 models are still supported. It's just called "iPad Air (5th generation)" in Apple's terminology. Every iPad model released on or after 2020 are all supported.
Steve121178
macrumors 604
Thanks. Apple has done a terrible job with their naming schemes. Just makes it so confusing for people.
apple contributor
macrumors member
I find it funny how apple presented that “they are industry leading in software support” with supporting iphone 11 and newer, but unnecessarily dropping lots of apple watches and ipads (macs were expected).
Kimbie
macrumors regular
Still use my iPad Pro 2018 11-inch most days, will suck not being supported any more, but until things like bank apps drop suppose for iOS 26 won't need to worry about upgrading just yet.
Hombre53
macrumors 6502
One of the greatest iPads of all time. Should be in an iPad "Hall of Fame" (A12X).
So at least my 4th gen iPad Air makes the grade. But my mom's 8th-generation iPad is out of luck; she can't even do any software updates because the storage is all full. I already know what me and my brother will probably get her for next year's Mother's Day...
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Apple’s naming convention has confused people ever since the 3rd-gen iPad Pro was incorrectly labelled “11-inch (1st-gen)”.
The iPad Air 5 (M1) has NOT been dropped. I wish Apple just included both names for full clarity:
iPad Air (6th-gen) (M2), etc, or iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd-gen) (A12X)
The iPad naming convention, unless you follow it closely, has confused everyone. I’ve been seeing confused posts since the iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd-gen) (A12X) (Or Apple’s incorrect 1st-gen, which is the A9X 9.7-inch iPad Pro).
Even MacRumors made a mistake with this.
The iPad Air 5 (M1) has NOT been dropped. I wish Apple just included both names for full clarity:
iPad Air (6th-gen) (M2), etc, or iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd-gen) (A12X)
The iPad naming convention, unless you follow it closely, has confused everyone. I’ve been seeing confused posts since the iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd-gen) (A12X) (Or Apple’s incorrect 1st-gen, which is the A9X 9.7-inch iPad Pro).
Even MacRumors made a mistake with this.
ikir
macrumors 68020
ikir
macrumors 68020
That doesn’t show iPadOS 26 compatibility. My point was to have a table for easy comparison.
ikir
macrumors 68020
Because it needs more memory. It is not a performance requirement but a memory one. Still you will get a lot of improvements and what your device can’t do locally it will do it cloud-side.