iPadOS, Apple confirms postponed launch compared to iOS 16

iPadOS 16 will come later iOS 16: the rumors released earlier this month by Bloomberg turned out to be correct. Apple confirmed the news, without however going into the merits of the reasons that determined the timing of the launch.

Bloomberg’s previous report pointed out that iPadOS was not yet ready to meet Apple’s expectations, particularly with regards to the Stage Manager functionality. Apple now does not confirm that the reason for the postponed launch is due to the presence of bugs or unsatisfactory performance, but limits itself to emphasizing the independence achieved between the two platforms which allows for greater flexibility in their respective release plans. A spokesperson for the Cupertino company told TechCrunch colleagues:

It is a particularly important year for iPadOS. As a stand-alone platform with features designed specifically for iPad, we have the flexibility to deliver iPadOS on our own schedule. IPadOS will ship after iOS this fall, as version 16.1 in a free software update.

The news must also be contextualized in light of the recent rumors about the launch plans of the new iPhones and iPads: this year Apple seems willing to anticipate the presentation of the iPhones at the beginning of September, while it plans to renew the iPad offer to October. Even starting from this assumption. it justifies the release of the stable versions of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 – which will be pre-installed in the new products – about a month apart from each other.

In the meantime, in the past few hours, Apple has made available to developers the first beta version of iPadOS 16.1 which will represent a useful tool for identifying bugs and aspects that can be improved on the new software platform in view of the release of the stable version.