The 10.5in iPad Pro will not get upgraded to iPad OS 18 even though the 7th generation iPad that runs an inferior processor (A10X on 10.5 and A10 on 7th gen iPad) is listed as compatible. I’ve seen some speculate this is because the 7th gen iPad was sold much later than the 10.5 IPP but, come on Apple. There is no reason to leave it out if it’s technically capable. Let’s hear your thoughts below!
My 10.5 IPP is my “kitchen/cooking” iPad. I use it extensively for recipes and cooking / notes etc with the Smart Keyboard. Even though the battery is terrible and I’ve had the white spot for years I would still update it to iPad OS 18 if possible. Although, iPad OS 17 made it chug way more than 16 did so maybe it’s not worth it?
My understanding is that, with the added emphasis on machine learning features, it's inevitable that iPads without a neural engine (A10/X Fusion and earlier) won't be allowed into the party. It's interesting that there is one remaining A10 Fusion iPad still supported. My guess is that the 6th Generation loses out this time due to only having 2GB of RAM and that the minimum RAM requirements for iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 is now 3GB up from 2GB. That doesn't really explain dropping the A10X Fusion iPad Pros from the lineup. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro had SO MANY regularly occurring issues with just the display alone, that I can see why Apple would just want to drop support for it, merely to not keep having to deal with the problematic hardware (a move I totally anticipate them doing with 2018 and 2019 butterfly keyboard Macs any macOS release now...). But the 2nd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro didn't have those issues and would've totally been fine to keep supported.
That said, I think that, while Apple ought to mirror their support practices with macOS releases to iPadOS and iOS releases as well (i.e. continuing to patch not only the most recent OS, but also the two most recent ones older than it), Apple has a bad history of leaving an iPad or iPhone on a version of the OS that's too slow for it to run comfortably. It's bad enough that these devices slowly lose the ability to do anything with third party apps (due to Apple continuing to push developers to keep their apps modern for newer OSes), but it's not like other apps like Messages, Mail, and Safari don't also become too old to be serviceable.
Frankly you could make a better argument for NOT including the 7th gen.
Absolutely. A 2nd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro (rocking A10X Fusion and 4GB of RAM) would absolutely be able to run iPadOS 18 better than a 7th Generation iPad (rocking A10 Fusion and 3GB of RAM). Although, as has happened with the Mac before, the main reason why the 7th Generation gets support and the A10X Fusion iPad Pros do not could be down to whether or not a certain component can have its firmware/drivers updated. And, even though the performance difference won't matter, I could totally see NEWER modules in a 7th Generation iPad released in 2019 than what is in a 10.5-inch iPad Pro or a 2nd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Why would you put up with white spot for years, that issue was an easy replacement even out of warranty.
I'm completely in agreement there. The screens on those were obviously crap.
In general I think its bad form that Apple does this. They are a company with good finances that could make these devices live longer.
The obsession with releasing a new OS every year is part of the problem.
It's not PART of the problem. It IS the problem.
And yes, considering that, for iPads, they own the entire stack (from hardware to software), they can dictate their own support cycles and have enough money to keep old devices in support indefinitely. I think it becomes tricky when it comes to apps. But the solution for all of this is to not release new OS updates annually and to, instead, revert to the Steve Jobs approach of releasing new OSes when there's an actual functional purpose to doing so.
Apple knows these devices will live on so they should really do something about it. People end up using devices that are unpatched and since Apple are the only ones that can patch these devices they really should figure something out.
Yeah. Unlike iPhones and Macs, Apple doesn't really do all that good of a job convincing people who bought an iPad at one point in time or another that they ever need to upgrade it.
Funny enough the iPadOS 18 Developer Betas are selectable (Settings: Software Update) on the 10.5" & 2nd Gen 12.9" iPad Pro with A10X chip and 4GB of RAM. But there is no Build Version to download.
It would be like the 2024 M2 iPad Air (9 Core GPU) will get an update but the 2022 M2 iPad Pro doesn't..
That's exactly what it's like. However, again, I'm pretty sure that, if the cut-off is hardware related and not merely about how long ago the device was released, it's for some component not related to either the CPU or GPU. That HAS ABSOLUTELY happened before with Macs.
When someone may a have the courage to address this directly to Apple PR we could see the same response like with Stage Manager in 2022 (A12X/Z added).
That's honestly doubtful. I'm sure that this is one of those things that they did very intentionally and that they're not likely to reverse it. Incidentally, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro had issues that I'm sure Apple is only too eager not to support. A shame that the 2nd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro isn't included. Though, my guess is that iPadOS 18 won't run terribly well on the 7th Generation iPad.
That's odd.
I know that the A10X don't have the NPU that some has mentioned is needed for AI.
As far as I understand the A10 (that the iPad 7 has) doesn't have an NPU, so that argument doesn't hold up.
At the same time I don't understand why they can't release iOS 18 or any OS that is lacking some features. It has been done in the past.
One can only hope they might add the 10.5 pro later.
Apple wants to get to a point where they don't have to worry about whether or not a device has an NPU. It'll make OS and SDK development way easier to standardize. They've already been doing that for iOS for a while now (they dropped A10 Fusion support for iOS 16). It's curious that they didn't also drop support for the 7th Generation iPad. But seeing as that came out five years ago, I'm sure they didn't want to piss anyone who bought them off.
In the meantime, I wouldn't hold your breath on A10X Fusion iPad Pro support. That decision isn't likely to be reversed.
