iPad Pro Upgrade iPad Pro 12.9" (2nd gen.) to 15.3.1 or leave it on 12.3.1?

[Sepultura]

A family member has a 2nd generation iPad Pro and is very happy with it. It's fast and has great battery life. She has no complaints, but has asked me if it's worth upgrading from iOS 12 to iPadOS 15. I personally don't upgrade to new iOS version unless there is a patch for a major security vulnerability or there is a feature I want. I also have been burned in the past by updating iOS and in turn, making my phone sluggish and have the battery drain quicker.

Any opinions? I don't have an iPad myself, so I am not sure if there are any worthwhile features in iPadOS. Also, she has the Smart Keyboard Folio to go along with her iPad.

 

[muzzy996]

I have a Gen 2 12.9" IPP and have no issues with iPad OS 15 on it. Things work just great and the iPad remains snappy. Things work well enough in fact that I don't long for any upgrade in hardware for now.

I'm curious what challenges one might have with app compatibility, if any, going from 12.3 up to 15.3. Perhaps someone else can chime in on that. For me I've always upgraded my OS as new versions came out without regret.

 

[Hombre53]

I have an IPP 9.7 (2016). It ran great, no issues up and until iPadOS14, and particularly iPadOS15. Now it is a bit sluggish, not the iPad I remember buying back in 2016. My advice to you, if you are happy and content with the older OS, stay on it. I wish I had stayed put on iPadOS13, as it was the last OS my IPP 9.7 ran well. Just my opinion, but I thought I'd chime in. BTW, I'm "upgrading" to the 2018 iPad Pro 11" (refurb) in a few days. I've read great things about the A12x chipset in the 2018 IPP 11" so I'll be getting it soon and retiring the IPP 9.7. The 9.7 served me very well.

 

[Shirasaki]

If she wonders whether it worths it, don’t upgrade.

 

[igauravarora]

If it ain't broke.

You gotta weigh the pros and cons though. I think the major pro in updating is the security fixes (pegasus exploit). Some cons could be device specific if there's a hit on battery life etc. I personally didn't like the homescreen on the iPadOS 15, there was a verge article about it you can check that out. There are some bugs in the 15 that ruins the experience for me like apple music streaming bug where it uses a lot of cpu power which drains the battery quickly. Personally, I wouldn't update if everything is working perfectly.

 

[Digitalguy]

2nd gen pro can be updated safely to iPadOS 15. My 10.5 is just as fast as before. Instead any 2GB RAM device should be left at 14 or, better, 13. I left my 9.7 pro at 13.4 and it's still fine. Instead my mini 4 has become unusable moving from 13 to 14. The big deal is RAM. I have my 2015 pro on 14 with no issues and will probably move it to 15 soon, because of 4GB RAM (I have heard that it's working fine on 15 too, contrary to the 9.7 pro).
So again base your decisions on RAM. Anything 4GB and above is fine. 2GB no way. 3GB... weight the pros and cons.

iPadOS is a big deal, IOS 12 misses a lot (desktop safari, and if you have any use for them, external storage, mouse support). If you were on 13 I would say it's ok, but on 12 it would be a pity. I have already quite a few apps that require at least 13. And if you have airtags you even need 14.

 

[muzzy996]

Yeah as Digitalguy points out there’s a big difference between a 9.7” iPad Pro from 2016 and a gen 2 12.9“ from 2017. The 12.9” has doub the RAM (4gb vs 2gb) and more processing power (hexacore cpu vs dual core). I have no reason to doubt that the older 9.7” would be noticeably slower than the 12.9” with iPad OS 15 on it.

Comes down to making a comparison of what one gains by way of features by making the jump up. Things like the upgrade in Safari to something that’s more desktop like, or enhanced multiwindow support or the feature enhancements involving Apple Pencil. If none of those matter maybe just stay where one is at, realizing that one is behind on security updates as a result.

 

[Digitalguy]

Yeah as Digitalguy points out there’s a big difference between a 9.7” iPad Pro from 2016 and a gen 2 12.9“ from 2017. The 12.9” has doub the RAM (4gb vs 2gb) and more processing power (hexacore cpu vs dual core). I have no reason to doubt that the older 9.7” would be noticeably slower than the 12.9” with iPad OS 15 on it.

Comes down to making a comparison of what one gains by way of features by making the jump up. Things like the upgrade in Safari to something that’s more desktop like, or enhanced multiwindow support or the feature enhancements involving Apple Pencil. If none of those matter maybe just stay where one is at, realizing that one is behind on security updates as a result.

Just a small detail to point out, A10X is not a true hexacore as it can only use 3 performance core or 3 efficiency core, but not at the same time, contrary to the 3ed gen or newer. So it should be considered a tri-core (vs dual core A9X). Having said that the individual cores are more poweful than the individual cores in A9X. But again, in my experience RAM has been the more important factor. The 2015 12.9 did not slow down on iPadOS 14 and some that have updated it to 15 say that even on 15 it's fine