Apple might delay iPadOS 16 launch

Photo by David Pierce / The Verge

Users and developers are being asked to get used to the new Stage Manager user interface in iPadOS 16. According to anonymous sources, the launch of iPadOS 16 will be delayed, unlike in the past when new versions of iPadOS have come out simultaneously. We can expect an iPadOS update in October, as usual.

Gurman said Stage Manager is to blame for the delay.

We’ll reserve full judgment for our review this fall, but so far, I hate Stage Manager. The piles take up too much room on the screen, and it takes way too much work to place the app windows just so. (One funny beta moment: when you turn on Stage Manager, it instantly forces the Settings app to render at a size it doesn’t support, and it breaks. Lots of other apps do, too.) When you open a full-screen app, you’re out of Stage Manager, and it’s not obvious how to get back or put things into the piles.

Gurman says that the shift will allow Apple to launch iPadOS 16 closer to when it releases new iPad hardware, and that the company is working on an iPad Pro with Apple's new M2 chip and a base-level iPad.