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iPad Pro will the 1st Gen iPad Pro remain able to follow the OS path?

Steven Avery

Steven Avery

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Original poster
May 10, 2020
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All told, I have 3 iPad Pros, 12.9. 2 1st-Gen, 1 2nd-Gen.
Ready to buy a fourth for biz partner.
Find them fantastic.

From 2015 to 2020, the OS is the same in all the iPad Pro models.

Would we expect that to remain the same the next few years?

Or will we hit a situation where the first Gen can't take, e.g iOS 15, but the later Gens will.

Any thoughts and speculation appreciated.
Thanks!

Steven
 
Steven Avery said:
All told, I have 3 iPad Pros, 12.9. 2 1st-Gen, 1 2nd-Gen.
Ready to buy a fourth for biz partner.
Find them fantastic.

From 2015 to 2020, the OS is the same in all the iPad Pro models.

Would we expect that to remain the same the next few years?

Or will we hit a situation where the first Gen can't take, e.g iOS 15, but the later Gens will.

Any thoughts and speculation appreciated.
Thanks!

Steven
Click to expand...
I think it'll get iPadOS 14, but not iPadOS 15.
 
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Thanks, good info. My summary.

For real high-class and long-term use - go 3rd or 4th gen, if you can budget it.

So I may use the AT&T 0% financing or look for an Apple refurb deal. (Other refurbs are corona tight, with the demand for home office.) Right now AT&T is in the lead, since I have a long-term account, and possibly might also find a deal. You never know with AT&T until you call up.

For a couple of years of light-style home use, bought at a good price (e.g. $400) the 1st Gen, (Craigslist, Marketplace, etc. I favor over refurb) is still excellent.
 
Steven Avery said:
Thanks, good info. My summary.

For real high-class and long-term use - go 3rd or 4th gen, if you can budget it.

So I may use the AT&T 0% financing or look for an Apple refurb deal. (Other refurbs are corona tight, with the demand for home office.) Right now AT&T is in the lead, since I have a long-term account, and possibly might also find a deal. You never know with AT&T until you call up.

For a couple of years of light-style home use, bought at a good price (e.g. $400) the 1st Gen, (Craigslist, Marketplace, etc. I favor over refurb) is still excellent.
Click to expand...

I think that’s a fair conclusion. Nobody really knows when the iPad Pro first generation will have the last iPadOS update. Since Apple wants to sell services it may be a long time before this model expires, but it may not.

The third and fourth generation refurbished devices are most people’s recommended purchase.
 
ericwn said:
The third and fourth generation refurbished devices are most people’s recommended purchase.
Click to expand...

This.
I bought a 3rd gen 256GB 12.9" Cellular in 2018 on release to replace my 2016 9.7 iPP and just recently got a 64GB 12.9" WiFi to accompany it. Even got a like new Smart Keyboard on eBay from someone who was upgrading to either the Brydge Pro+ or MKB so the both have smart keyboards.

I would look for a refurb deal to future proof at least one device in the instance where the 1st and 2nd gen iPP lose support, which right now cannot be estimated without mere speculation.
 
hovscorpion12 said:
The 1st gen still rocks an Impressive duel core 2.26 GHz with 4 GB of RAM. My 1st gen still works just as fast. It could be a few more years.
Click to expand...

wrong as 9.7 inch 1st Gen iPad Pro has 2GB not 4GB Of RAM, the other 1st gen iPad Pro has 4GB

don’t forget that there is 2 models of the 1st gen iPad Pro
 
Considering Apple just extended the support of A12-based iPads by releasing the 2020 iPads with A12Z, I’d say there is a decent chance the 1st gen will be supported through iPadOS 2021 (iOS15). It will be interesting since 1st gen is A9 based and that’s the equivalent of an iPhone 6S, but it’s beefier for the iPad. This cycle might look a bit different because of the economic environment we found ourselves in for 2020. Support cycles might be extended.

You also have to consider performance. Just because it’s supported doesn’t mean it’s going to run as fast as it used to on the new OS. If a slower device isn’t a problem, then you’ll probably be fine for a little while longer.
 
I think the big question is, will Apple decouple the 1st gen 12.9 from the 9.7? It has already decoupled the A8, but that was on an iphone 6 vs ipad mini 4... We'll see if it happens again or not. Anyway my guess is that the pro 9.7 will be dropped at the same time as the ipad 6 (yes, it's slightly faster, but it's not a pro and it has the same RAM...). Based on this my predictions are:
IOS 14: air 2 and mini 4 dropped, A9 ipad (2017) possibly dropped
IOS 15: A9 ipad definitely dropped, ipad pro 9.7 possibly dropped if decoupled otherwise not dropped, same thing for the ipad A10
IOS 16: ipad pro 9.7 definitely dropped, same for ipad A10 (no more 2GB devices). 1st 12.9 dropped if not decoupled, otherwise still supported for one final year.

Of course this is assuming there is not another IOS 12 that comes to "repair" IOS 11 and does not drop any device....
 
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Digitalguy said:
I think the big question is, will Apple decouple the 1st gen 12.9 from the 9.7? It has already decoupled the A8, but that was on an iphone 6 vs ipad mini 4... We'll see if it happens again or not. Anyway my guess is that the pro 9.7 will be dropped at the same time as the ipad 6 (yes, it's slightly faster, but it's not a pro and it has the same RAM...). Based on this my predictions are:
IOS 14: air 2 and mini 4 dropped, A9 ipad (2017) possibly dropped
IOS 15: A9 ipad definitely dropped, ipad pro 9.7 possibly dropped if decoupled otherwise not dropped, same thing for the ipad A10
IOS 16: ipad pro 9.7 definitely dropped, same for ipad A10 (no more 2GB devices). 1st 12.9 dropped if not decoupled, otherwise still supported for one final year.

Of course this is assuming there is not another IOS 12 that comes to "repair" IOS 11 and does not drop any device....
Click to expand...
For iPadOS 14 I think they will likely drop the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4 but will support all A9 devices and up.

I’m not as sure for iPadOS 15, but I think they will drop all A9 devices and probably 9.7” iPad Pro as well. While they could decouple the 12.9” 1st gen iPad Pro, the 12.9“ is also even older than the 9.7” so they could just drop that one as well.

iPadOS 16 would drop A10 devices with 2 GB RAM. I‘m not sure if they will decouple the iPhone 7 Plus from the iPhone 7 though, as the 7 Plus has 3 GB RAM.

In any case, I will likely be buying the 6 GB iPhone 12 Pro this year, as opposed to a 4 GB models, although the main reasons may be screen size and camera.
 
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Digitalguy said:
I think the big question is, will Apple decouple the 1st gen 12.9 from the 9.7? It has already decoupled the A8, but that was on an iphone 6 vs ipad mini 4... We'll see if it happens again or not. Anyway my guess is that the pro 9.7 will be dropped at the same time as the ipad 6 (yes, it's slightly faster, but it's not a pro and it has the same RAM...). Based on this my predictions are:
IOS 14: air 2 and mini 4 dropped, A9 ipad (2017) possibly dropped
IOS 15: A9 ipad definitely dropped, ipad pro 9.7 possibly dropped if decoupled otherwise not dropped, same thing for the ipad A10
IOS 16: ipad pro 9.7 definitely dropped, same for ipad A10 (no more 2GB devices). 1st 12.9 dropped if not decoupled, otherwise still supported for one final year.

Of course this is assuming there is not another IOS 12 that comes to "repair" IOS 11 and does not drop any device....
Click to expand...

I see a potential for iPad Mini 4 to get iPadOS 14.

I do see iOS 14 coming to “repair” the damage and criticism that iOS 13 got, also the current global events, manufacturing delaying Apple products and other products, weak consumer demand because of unemployment etc etc are making people holding back more older devices like Air 2 and Mini 4

If the Air 2 goes, that A9 iPad will go too. The fact that with multicore, the Air 2 is just slightly faster is an embarrassment

I don’t see the 1st gen iPad Pros dropped anytime soon

as to your claim that If the 6th gen iPad gets dropped then there is no more 2GB Devices... well you did forget the iPhone 8 which will get maybe 1 or 2 more iOS Updates after and that has 2GB of RAM.. unless Apple drops support of 2GB Entirely which will not happen for some years
 
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Digitalguy said:
I think the big question is, will Apple decouple the 1st gen 12.9 from the 9.7? It has already decoupled the A8, but that was on an iphone 6 vs ipad mini 4... We'll see if it happens again or not. Anyway my guess is that the pro 9.7 will be dropped at the same time as the ipad 6 (yes, it's slightly faster, but it's not a pro and it has the same RAM...). Based on this my predictions are:
IOS 14: air 2 and mini 4 dropped, A9 ipad (2017) possibly dropped
IOS 15: A9 ipad definitely dropped, ipad pro 9.7 possibly dropped if decoupled otherwise not dropped, same thing for the ipad A10
IOS 16: ipad pro 9.7 definitely dropped, same for ipad A10 (no more 2GB devices). 1st 12.9 dropped if not decoupled, otherwise still supported for one final year.

Of course this is assuming there is not another IOS 12 that comes to "repair" IOS 11 and does not drop any device....
Click to expand...



so what happens with the new iPad 10.2" that has a A10 chip and 3GB of ram ?
 
Homme said:
I see a potential for iPad Mini 4 to get iPadOS 14.
Click to expand...
Possibly. I'm not optimistic, but I wouldn't rule it out.

If the Air 2 goes, that A9 iPad will go too. The fact that with multicore, the Air 2 is just slightly faster is an embarrassment
Click to expand...
iPad Air 2's A8X (and the iPad mini 4's A8) has a decreased feature set vs. A9. Specifically, A9 has hardware h.265 HEVC decode support.
 
iPad mini 4 and iPad air 2 will not get IOS 14 here is the list of iPad that will be getting iPad OS 14

  • 12.9-inch iPad Pro
  • 11-inch iPad Pro
  • 10.5-inch iPad Pro
  • 9.7-inch iPad Pro
  • iPad (7th generation)
  • iPad (6th generation)
  • iPad (5th generation)
  • iPad mini (5th generation)
  • iPad Air (3rd generation)
 
Homme said:
If the Air 2 goes, that A9 iPad will go too. The fact that with multicore, the Air 2 is just slightly faster is an embarrassment
Click to expand...
Benchmark scores and stuff that can be optimized for multithreading, sure.

We have both in the household and the Air 2 suffers more often from stutter/lag compared to the A9-based iPad 5th gen.
 
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EugW said:
Possibly. I'm not optimistic, but I wouldn't rule it out.


iPad Air 2's A8X (and the iPad mini 4's A8) has a decreased feature set vs. A9. Specifically, A9 has hardware h.265 HEVC decode support.
Click to expand...

But that feature is to do with decoding video in hardware and not to do with raw performance, comptiability with iOS has to do with either the CPU or RAM, not something like hardware HEVC Support

but then there is a few things A8X has over the A9, tri core processor, the A8X having that metal heat spreader which helps with performance and cooling, something A9 doesn’t have, also other exclusive things to do with the X line of chips that non X chips don’t have..
 
Homme said:
But that feature is to do with decoding video in hardware and not to do with raw performance, comptiability with iOS has to do with either the CPU or RAM, not something like hardware HEVC Support

but then there is a few things A8X has over the A9, tri core processor, the A8X having that metal heat spreader which helps with performance and cooling, something A9 doesn’t have, also other exclusive things to do with the X line of chips that non X chips don’t have..
Click to expand...
HEVC is integral to iPadOS these days. Apple has built its ecosystem around HEVC support. I’d say hardware HEVC decode capability is actually more important that raw CPU performance.
 
EugW said:
HEVC is integral to iPadOS these days. Apple has built its ecosystem around HEVC support. I’d say hardware HEVC decode capability is actually more important that raw CPU performance.
Click to expand...

how so in your opinion?.
 
snow755 said:
iPad mini 4 and iPad air 2 will not get IOS 14 here is the list of iPad that will be getting iPad OS 14

  • 12.9-inch iPad Pro
  • 11-inch iPad Pro
  • 10.5-inch iPad Pro
  • 9.7-inch iPad Pro
  • iPad (7th generation)
  • iPad (6th generation)
  • iPad (5th generation)
  • iPad mini (5th generation)
  • iPad Air (3rd generation)
Click to expand...

Source link please? Thanks.
 
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Homme said:
but then there is a few things A8X has over the A9, tri core processor, the A8X having that metal heat spreader which helps with performance and cooling, something A9 doesn’t have, also other exclusive things to do with the X line of chips that non X chips don’t have..
Click to expand...
A9 with 2 cores has same or better multithreaded performance as A8X with 3 cores so bit of a moot point. The tri-core just meant the Air 2 was able to keep up or maintain performance even after multiple iOS updates.

A9 may not have that heat spreader but it's a chipset that was designed to run in phones so thermals on the much bigger iPad is probably already an improvement.

As for X chipset differences, apart from the extra core, that would be the GPU but A9 has similar GPU performance as A8X.

Given Apple sells iPhones at around 4:1 ratio versus iPads, they're not gonna intentionally gimp phone chipsets beyond thermal necessity.
 
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Homme said:
how so in your opinion?.
Click to expand...
For example, the iPad Air 2 has problems even just playing back video shot on an iPhone, if it’s in HEVC format. Even when it does work, it’s a sub-par experience.

It’s not in Apple’s interest to have to support this in old hardware for longer than it needs to.


ericwn said:
Source link please? Thanks.
Click to expand...
I wonder if s/he is quoting the list from a rumour site with an iffy record. I suspect that rumour site is just making guesses. Educated guesses but guesses nonetheless.

iphonesoft.fr

iOS 14 / iPadOS 14 : la liste des iPhone et iPad compatibles

Alors que l'an passé, nous avions dévoilé en exclusivité la liste des appareils qui allaient pouvoir recevoir la mise à jour iOS 13, vous êtes...
iphonesoft.fr iphonesoft.fr

I happen to agree with the list but I’m not convinced they have any inside information.
 
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