iPad Air iPad Air 5 base model doesn’t meet requirements for Stage Manager

[mebehere]

But… it can still do it. So what’s the deal?

64GB iPad Air 5 lacks memory swap despite Stage Manager 9to5Mac

With iPadOS 16, Apple announced multiple new features that are exclusive to iPads based on the M1 chip, such as...

9to5mac.com

 

[rawCpoppa]

Some on here will say this is perfectly normal. Crazy anyone buying the latest iPad Air 5 and still losing out on features in the very next iPad OS

 

[mebehere]

Some on here will say this is perfectly normal. Crazy anyone buying the latest iPad Air 5 and still losing out on features in the very next iPad OS

Not sure if I’m understanding you. The base model Air 5 does not meet the requirements, but it can do it. Sorry if that’s what you meant.

 

[xaqt93]

Yeah…this is how I know that Apple is software locking this feature

 

[rawCpoppa]

Not sure if I’m understanding you. The base model Air 5 does not meet the requirements, but it can do it. Sorry if that’s what you meant.

My mistake. I misread the headline. Article details cleared it up. Won't hide my original mistake. Interesting that the base iPad supports Stage Manager despite not having the ability to memory swap.

 

[yitwail]

But… it can still do it. So what’s the deal?

64GB iPad Air 5 lacks memory swap despite Stage Manager 9to5Mac

With iPadOS 16, Apple announced multiple new features that are exclusive to iPads based on the M1 chip, such as...

9to5mac.com

That article left out Federighi's comments about M1 IO & Graphics:

“We also view Stage Manager as a total experience that involves external display connectivity. And the IO on the M1 supports connectivity that our previous iPads don’t, it can drive 4K, 5K, 6K displays, it can drive them at scaled resolutions. We can’t do that on other iPads.”

“We really designed Stage Manager to take full advantage [of the M1]. If you look at the way the apps tilt and shadow and how they animate in and out. To do that at super high frame rates, across very large displays and multiple displays, requires the peak of graphics performance that no one else can deliver."

source: Apple resizes the iPad’s workflow with Stage Manager | TechCrunch

 

[babyexercise]

That's why what Apple claims about extreme high requirements and cut all non M1 ipad support is just an excuse.

 

[F27]

Having just bought an Air 5 64GB I'm fuming about this. How can a device that just came out already be missing out on major features and worse is that it seems to be an arbitrary restriction as it somehow does Stage Manager! The reserve for memory swap feature is only 16GB at it's largest so how is the 64GB Air not got enough storage do it?

Some may argue the whole don't buy expecting future things argument but it's been 2 MONTHS since launch!? That is truly disgraceful.

 

[xaqt93]

Having just bought an Air 5 64GB I'm fuming about this. How can a device that just came out already be missing out on major features and worse is that it seems to be an arbitrary restriction as it somehow does Stage Manager! The reserve for memory swap feature is only 16GB at it's largest so how is the 64GB Air not got enough storage do it?

Some may argue the whole don't buy expecting future things argument but it's been 2 MONTHS since launch!? That is truly disgraceful.

If you have an iPd Air 5…it works just fine. That is the problem…People are mad that Apple says it needs to have memory swap which the iPad Air does not support, yet it supports the Stage Manager feature…

 

[F27]

If you have an iPd Air 5…it works just fine. That is the problem…People are mad that Apple says it needs to have memory swap which the iPad Air does not support, yet it supports the Stage Manager feature…

The iPad Air 5 256GB does have memory swap which basically makes the 64GB a duff model. Arguably having memory swap even if your not using Stage Manager is a very useful background feature.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Having just bought an Air 5 64GB I'm fuming about this. How can a device that just came out already be missing out on major features and worse is that it seems to be an arbitrary restriction as it somehow does Stage Manager! The reserve for memory swap feature is only 16GB at it's largest so how is the 64GB Air not got enough storage do it?

16gb per app. 16x8=128gb.

 

[F27]

16gb per app. 16x8=128gb.

When they say this...

I thought 'up to' means total system wide. If it is the case it's 16GB x 8 Apps then why not lower the amount of apps rather than making the virtual memory not available at all on the 64GB?

Either way it's something that's not coming to a device that's 2 months old and I'm pretty surprised at the cheek of that, it's an even bigger joke when one Air gets it and the other doesn't.

 

[cupcakes2000]

When they say this...

View attachment 2019827
I thought 'up to' means total system wide. If it is the case it's 16GB x 8 Apps then why not lower the amount of apps rather than making the virtual memory not available at all on the 64GB?

Either way it's something that's not coming to a device that's 2 months old and I'm pretty surprised at the cheek of that, it's an even bigger joke when one Air gets it and the other doesn't.

Because that’s the feature. It’s up to 8 apps across two screens. That’s what it is.

You can already have 3 apps on any iPad.

They stated that the experience isn’t what they wanted in less than an M1. That’s that really. It’s frustrating that iPads with older soc’s or A series chips don’t support it, but that’s the battle with any tech.

 

[F27]

Because that’s the feature. It’s up to 8 apps across two screens. That’s what it is.

You can already have 3 apps on any iPad.

They stated that the experience isn’t what they wanted in less than an M1. That’s that really. It’s frustrating that iPads with older soc’s or A series chips don’t support it, but that’s the battle with any tech.

Oh I see, so this memory swap IS part of Stage Manager, it doesn't do or add anything outside of it.

I understand the frustration of those with the A chips and also the confusion about how the 64GB Air can do it without the memory swap but I actually thought memory swap was a thing of its own that would improve the on iPad only app experience as well as aid stage manager.

 

[xaqt93]

The iPad Air 5 256GB does have memory swap which basically makes the 64GB a duff model. Arguably having memory swap even if your not using Stage Manager is a very useful background feature.

View attachment 2019824

If you have the 64G iPad Air 5…you CAN use Stage Manager

 

[Isengardtom]

They should have just said : it requires an iPad with 8 GB of memory, something only M1 has.

 

[cupcakes2000]

If you have the 64G iPad Air 5…you CAN use Stage Manager

Hmmm. You seem to be correct, but I’m sure I read in the limitations at the bottom of the Apple preview site that the air had to be the 256gb model. I must have misread as there is no sign of such a limitation upon my second look just now. My bad.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Hmmm. You seem to be correct, but I’m sure I read in the limitations at the bottom of the Apple preview site that the air had to be the 256gb model. I must have misread as there is no sign of such a limitation upon my second look just now. My bad.

That’s the virtual memory swap feature for apps per the Apple website for iPadOS 16. Probably has to do with the read/write speeds of the 256gb vs 64gb. Common for Apple to have different speeds based on storage size for whatever reason…save money I suppose.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Confusing headline. Just to make clear I understand this…

iPad Air 5/64GB does meet the requirements for Stage Manager (does it work in betas?).
It’s just Craig’s spin on it with memory swapping that seems a bit disingenuous?

So… if I just bought a 5th gen Air, I will get Stage Manager - even though „the most demanding apps“ (that I don’t plan to use) may run a bit slower due to missing memory swapping?

 

[cupcakes2000]

That’s the virtual memory swap feature for apps per the Apple website for iPadOS 16. Probably has to do with the read/write speeds of the 256gb vs 64gb. Common for Apple to have different speeds based on storage size for whatever reason…save money I suppose.

Yes I see now, thank you. It was reaffirmed on another thread too.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Confusing headline. Just to make clear I understand this…

iPad Air 5/64GB does meet the requirements for Stage Manager (does it work in betas?).
It’s just Craig’s spin on it with memory swapping that seems a bit disingenuous?

So… if I just bought a 5th gen Air, I will get Stage Manager - even though „the most demanding apps“ (that I don’t plan to use) may run a bit slower due to missing memory swapping?

Seems that way.

iPadOS 18

iPadOS 18 brings new ways to work with Apple Pencil, new experiences in apps, deeper customization options, and support for Apple Intelligence.

www.apple.com

 

[rui no onna]

16gb per app. 16x8=128gb.

I don’t think they’ll be allowing all 8 apps to get 16GB. There’s bound to be a cap on the total swap the whole system is allowed to use.

It’s not practical to have swap using 50-100% of your entire storage (256GB Air 5, 128GB Pro 11).

As for 64GB not getting swap, I can think of a few reasons:

1. Speed: Not enough parallelism at 64GB

2. Lack of storage space: System+other+swap would end up using probably more than 30GB total leaving little space for the user’s apps and data

3. SSD longevity: I was looking at Activity Monitor on the M1 Mac Mini and it wrote like 100GB in one day. Even at 1x write amplification, that would kill the 64GB iPad in around 5 years (3000 P/E cycles).

 

[CraigJDuffy]

Having just bought an Air 5 64GB I'm fuming about this. How can a device that just came out already be missing out on major features and worse is that it seems to be an arbitrary restriction as it somehow does Stage Manager! The reserve for memory swap feature is only 16GB at it's largest so how is the 64GB Air not got enough storage do it?

Some may argue the whole don't buy expecting future things argument but it's been 2 MONTHS since launch!? That is truly disgraceful.

Wait till you hear about the Apple Watch Series 3 which is currently for sale but doesn’t support WatchOS9

 

[MajorFubar]

lol Craig's argument just blown clean out of the water that A-series Pros can't have Stage Manager because A-series chips don't have memory swap, yet a 64GB M1 Air, which doesn't have memory swap, will get Stage Manager...

Wouldn't it be great if some of the journalists who have interviewed him about this were actually tech-savvy enough to ask these kind of difficult questions instead of just nodding like a dog.

 

[sparksd]

I'm curious as to what this means for developers - do developers now have to own an M1 iPad to test compatibility with Stage Manager?