iPadOS 16 gets delayed — Here’s when it should become available

TL;DR

• The iPadOS 16.1 will only be available after iOS 16.
• Apple confirmed the postponement of iPadOS 16, but no specific release date is mentioned.
• Apple’s iPad hardware event in October could see the iPadOS 16 roll out too.

The news is not surprising at all given that reliable leaker Mark Gurman already hinted at the possible postponement of Apple’s next major iPad software release. According to Apple, iPad users should expect the software once the iOS 16 has been shipped. But instead of getting version 16.0, the software will arrive as 16.1, which could include more stable performance and polished features than the lower version.

Again, Apple didn’t specify what the reason for the delay was. But a lot of pundits are suggesting that the uncooked and glitchy Stage Manager feature is the cause of this deferment. To refresh, the beta versions of iPadOS 16 and iOS 16 were available to the public testers last month with the seventh beta of both operating softwares shipping to developers today.

The Stage Manager was introduced with iPadOS 16 offering extensive multi-tasking functions much closer to the MacOS. For instance, you can arrange and resize tabs more freely. There is also support for up to eight apps to be opened at the same time. The feature is only available to the iPad Pro models and newer iPad with M1 or newer chipset.

Apple is scheduled to announce the iPhone 14 on September 7 which will also see the roll out of iOS 16. As for the iPadOS 16, an October launch alongside the next-gen iPad Pro tablets and iPad 10th gen is highly possible. If to happen, Apple could make it standard to split the release of iPadOS and iOS in the coming years.