New iPadOS 16.1 Beta Expands Stage Manager to Older iPad Pro Models, Delays External Display Support

Stage Manager can be used on older iPads if they have an A12X or A12Z chip, according to information Apple provided to the website.

External display support from Stage Manager was removed in the current iPadOS 16 update, but will be back in a later iPadOS 16 update. Apple said on the matter.

We introduced Stage Manager as a whole new way to multitask with overlapping, resizable windows on both the iPad display and a separate external display, with the ability to run up to eight live apps on screen at once. Delivering this multi-display support is only possible with the full power of M1-based iPads. Customers with iPad Pro 3rd and 4th generation have expressed strong interest in being able to experience Stage Manager on their iPads. In response, our teams have worked hard to find a way to deliver a single-screen version for these systems, with support for up to four live apps on the iPad screen at once.

External display support for Stage Manager on M1 iPads will be available in a software update later this year.

Stage Manager was limited to the M1 iPad Air and the M1 iPad Pro models during the iPadOS 16 testing period. The A12X and A12Z chips are used in the iPad Pro models. The feature requires large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O provided by the M1 iPad models, according to Apple.

The Stage Manager experience on older iPad Pro models wasn't good. We don't want to hold back the definition of a new experience and not create the best foundation for the future in that experience. Craig Federighi said that they could only do that by building on the M1.

Apple has been criticized for limiting such a major feature to its newest hardware, leading the company to figure out a way to expand theFunctionality to additional iPad It is possible that the removal of the external display feature in Stage Manager is allowing Apple to offer a better experience on non-M1 hardware.

Stage Manager is now available on all M1 iPads, as well as the 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, if you have the latest iPadOS 16.1beta installed. This is a preview of iPadOS 16.