Earlier this month, a Bloomberg story revealed that Apple was considering postponing the release of iPadOS 16 until October as the corporation was not happy with the Stage Manager experience. As expected, Apple has postponed the release of iPadOS 16, and the first beta of iPadOS 16.1 is now available for developers to try out.
Apple may have hinted at a delay in the release of iPadOS 16 owing to quality difficulties, but they never came out and said so. The business, however, insists that this is an “important year for iPadOS” and that the operating system would henceforth follow “its own timeline.”
Apple Issued a Comment to Tech Crunch, Which Reads as Follows:
This year represents a watershed moment for iPadOS. The iPad Operating System (iOS) is a separate platform with capabilities developed expressly for the iPad, so we may release it whenever we like. This Fall, iPadOS will ship after iOS, as version 16.1 in a free software update.
Stage Manager is one of the most significant additions to iPadOS 16, allowing users to, for the first time, run numerous apps in independent floating windows. Apple will likely spend further time refining this functionality. The feature requires an iPad with an M1 processor, and it has been heavily criticized for being confusing and unstable.
According to recent rumors, Apple reportedly has plans to unveil new iPad models in October, so holding off on releasing iPadOS 16 until then makes more sense. Later this fall, iPad users will be able to download iPadOS 16 “as version 16.1.” On the other hand, iOS 16.0 is scheduled to be published for iPhone users in the next weeks.
I Pad Os 16.1 Beta
Apple has published the first beta version of iPadOS 16.1 to developers, although it is still referred to as iPadOS 16.0 beta 7 on the Apple Developer website. At this time, it’s unknown whether or if iPadOS 16.1 beta improves upon the previous version, iPadOS 16.0 beta 6.
A delay between iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 could have significant consequences for developers, as developer James Thomson notes on Twitter. The reason for this is that many app makers are creating universal apps using the iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 APIs, and these apps cannot be separated.
Apps can’t be released until both iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 are ready to the general public, so developers will have to wait. On a related topic, Apple also released iOS 16.0 beta 7 to developers on Tuesday. iPadOS 16.1 beta 1 is the version number 20B5027f, whilst iOS 16.0 beta 7 is version number 20A5356a.
Do you see any differences between the previous beta of iOS 16 and the new beta 1 of iPadOS 16.1 that was released today? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @9to5Mac. Stay into 9to5Mac all day today and the rest of the week for our comprehensive hands-on coverage of the latest releases.