Craig Federighi says Stage Manager is exclusive to M1 iPads because it requires the M1's better GPU, virtual memory, storage, and RAM for a seamless experience

SVP Craig Federighi on stretching Apple's iPad to fit new ways of working — Though the iPad was a huge hit from the beginning based …

TechCrunch 2022-06-14 Matthew Panzarino

Context & Ripple Effects

Stage Manager was introduced as part of iPadOS 16's broader multitasking push, while the prior M1 iPad Pro refresh supplied the GPU, memory, storage, and connectivity Apple now cites as its performance baseline. Federighi's explanation turns a software feature into a clear hardware distinction between M1 iPads and the rest of the range.

That boundary did not hold unchanged: a later developer beta brought Stage Manager to older A12X and A12Z iPads, while retaining the M1 requirement for external-display extension. The later discussion of Stage Manager's interface limitations suggests the eligibility question was intertwined with a still-evolving multitasking design.

First-order effects

M1 iPad owners receive Apple's new desktop-style multitasking experience, while owners of earlier iPads are initially excluded despite iPadOS 16's wider availability.
Apple can position the M1 iPad Pro hardware stack as necessary for a seamless Stage Manager experience, rather than treating the feature as a uniform OS upgrade.

Second-order effects

The later A12X/A12Z beta support narrows Apple's original hardware cutoff, but the absent external-display capability preserves a higher-tier distinction for M1 iPads.
Stage Manager's uneven device support makes feature parity a purchasing consideration for iPad buyers, alongside the M1 hardware upgrade already introduced in the iPad Pro line.

Third-order effects

Apple's iPad multitasking strategy is moving toward capability tiers: core workflow features can expand to older hardware, while the most demanding display and memory-intensive modes remain attached to newer devices.
If that pattern persists, iPadOS productivity features will be shaped as much by hardware qualification and interface constraints as by the annual software release itself.

The trend: Apple is using increasingly Mac-like iPad workflows to differentiate hardware tiers while gradually widening access where the interface and performance envelope permits.

Discussion

@stevesi Steven Sinofsky on x
Update: interview with Craig F on Stage Manager. I am still not sure. The journey of the feature could be read as converged iteration or as a bit of a compromise across teams. Tough to see both Mac and iPad sharing design assumptions. https://techcrunch.com/...
@byteforbyte Joseph Akbrud on x
@reneritchie I think that the problem here is that people think that they know what needs to be done to make the iPad “Pro,” despite the fact that the iPad is a mainstream device that was never designed to be a Mac. Apple has actually telemetry data that tells them how these devi…
@trentstech @trentstech on x
Rene was spot on in this video I was one of the people who was upset Apple didn't do anything with M1 last year And this year when Apple gave everything to M1 there was apprehension Why is Stage Manager M1 iPad Only? https://www.youtube.com/... via @YouTube @reneritchie
@reneritchie Rene Ritchie on x
If you watched my explainer video on Stage Manager for iPad and are part of the incredibly passionate and loud minority of viewers who still want to burn me at the stake, I give Craig Federighi explaining it even better to @panzer ! https://techcrunch.com/... https://twitter.com/…
@mattcassinelli Matthew Cassinelli on x
@reneritchie Those are two different groups of people though, the people who bought M1s and the people who didn't
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
I look forward to seeing how Stage Manager improves over the summer as we get closer to a release, though some of the problems it, and iPadOS, has with multitasking aren't going to be solved any time soon. Not so much ‘the’ solution as ‘the current’ solution for windowing on iPad
@mattcassinelli Matthew Cassinelli on x
@reneritchie @imPatrickT I don't think I agree though, I think what you defined is the kind of person who could clearly be “iPad Pro-only” and not have a bad time but I don't think that necessarily mean that's the main pro market for these https://twitter.com/...
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
@tapbot_paul you think the non-qualifier iPad is gonna get Stage Manager? I don't think it or the mini will, no matter the chip
@impatrickt @impatrickt on x
@reneritchie @mattcassinelli I'm someone that bought into M1 on iPad and it's never paid off, not even with iOS 16. As we say in Italian “garbagio”.
@craigjduffy Craig James Duffy on x
@mcelhearn ... It also runs the A12Z processor which apple ran macOS on for the Apple Silicon Dev kit which could also multitask and was faster than some Intel macs for sale.
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
Without a clear understanding of all this, all Stage Manager can be is a bolt-on that tries to wrangle a bunch of muddled concepts in a new way. Just another temporary multitasking UX to be thrown out in a couple years when a competing concept is given a try, like all the others
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
Flipside of the Stage Manager/M1 iPad situation: your favorite app dev probably doesn't have one, either. And, right now, the iOS Simulator doesn't officially support Stage Manager — so not unreasonable to expect the vast majority of third-party apps won't, come September, either
@reneritchie Rene Ritchie on x
@tapbot_paul Why do you hate Apple silicon, Paul? (Kidding!)
@reneritchie Rene Ritchie on x
@mattcassinelli Yeah, last year the people with M1 were upset, this year the people without M1 are upset. I totally sympathize.
@impatrickt @impatrickt on x
@reneritchie @mattcassinelli Because I have a beautiful M1 chipped device with an XDR display that cost me 2 grand that I can hold like a tablet or dock like a laptop but only one half of those two experiences is properly fleshed out. I have a 14" MBPro out of spite essentially.
@impatrickt @impatrickt on x
@reneritchie @mattcassinelli Something I can ditch the need to own a 14" for travel. The ecosystem completely breaks for me as a creation/productivity device still. Stage manager is just a fancy way to move apps that don't function well for multitasking anyways.
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
@tapbot_paul I mean, the mini already has an A15 chip, which is architecturally closer to an M2. I don't think that matters; by the time Stage Manager trickles down, there'll probably be some new, exclusive multitasking UI for the upsell devices 😂
@craigjduffy Craig James Duffy on x
@joetfregoso I guarantee you there will be a jailbreak to enable it on every iPad supported by iOS 16 within weeks of an iOS 16 jailbreak being discovered.
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
I don't think Apple has figured out the nouns & verbs of the important elements of multi-window multitasking — what is an ‘app’, ‘window’, where does it live? Where does it go when I put it away? iPadOS is all just a soup of recent tasks that may be running, cached, or ghosts
@mattcassinelli Matthew Cassinelli on x
@reneritchie @imPatrickT I'm not denying that, I think that's also a market for the iPad Air as well. Reframing it better, I think the traditional Mac power user trying to replace their laptop with an iPad Pro would get further if they embraced Shortcuts, specifically for product…
@mcelhearn Kirk McElhearn on x
@CraigJDuffy ... I'm guessing a combination of memory management and available storage.
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
I think maybe Apple has been looking at this work-in-progress design for too long to appreciate its flaws as yet-another-overcomplicated- multitasking-paradigm, and hopefully the post-WWDC period will give everybody a chance to step back and take a second to breathe
@darth @darth on x
@panzer i am here for any and all ‘M chip only’ features tbh matthew even tho my ipad air will be left out
@mcelhearn Kirk McElhearn on x
@CraigJDuffy ... It's only because it's not possible on the iPad with Apple's A series chips. You can't compare with the Mac which was designed for things like VM.
@reneritchie Rene Ritchie on x
@imPatrickT @mattcassinelli What did you want that you haven't gotten yet?
@tapbot_paul Paul Haddad on x
Strong agree. Don't have one, don't want one. Maybe when the M1 shows up on the cheapo iPad I'll pick it up. * * I'm sure the sim will eventually support it well enough to test with. https://twitter.com/...
@tapbot_paul Paul Haddad on x
@stroughtonsmith I think at some point that iPad will have a chip as capable as the M1. Whether Stage Manager will still be a thing by then is the more interesting question.
@tapbot_paul Paul Haddad on x
@stroughtonsmith Yeah but less RAM, though I guess I didn't realize it actually had 4GB. I could see it being limited on that one because of screen size. But I certainly wouldn't bet on them doing the technically possible thing over the marketing driven thing.
@mattcassinelli Matthew Cassinelli on x
@imPatrickT @reneritchie I still think an unspoken thing about iPad Pro is that all of the people I know who use it for work have also used Workflow and Shortcuts. I wouldn't have bothered with iPad if I couldn't automate the stuff that sucks about it. Now I can do even more on M…
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
Reading the @panzer interview, I do feel Stage Manager has a bit of an identity crisis. Who is it for? The long tail of users? It's way too confusing and unpredictable, harder than a desktop. And for pro users? It's far too rigid and opinionated, meddling https://techcrunch.com/.…
@joetfregoso @joetfregoso on x
@stroughtonsmith another side of stage manager: my fuckin 2020 iPad Pro isn't supported 🙃
@craigjduffy Craig James Duffy on x
@mcelhearn ... Yes, but why?
@craigjduffy Craig James Duffy on x
@mcelhearn ... Nonsense. Macs had multitasking on 64mb of RAM and less than 2GB of slow HDD storage. The 2020 iPad Pro has processor which has 6GB of RAM and up to 1TB of fast storage which could be used as virtual memory should handle this without a problem.
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
Honestly it would be pretty helpful if Apple provided a developer profile to enable Stage Manager on unsupported devices during the beta period. Technically possible, but obvious reasons why they wouldn't cross that bridge
@reneritchie Rene Ritchie on x
@imPatrickT @mattcassinelli Serious question: Why not just use a Mac then? Is the Mac missing something for you as well?
@craigjduffy Craig James Duffy on x
@joetfregoso It's a really odd take from Apple. Apparently you need 16GB of ram, the processor speed of the M1 and virtual memory in order to do stage manager as if macOS hasn't had free form window management since OSX released.
@reneritchie Rene Ritchie on x
@mattcassinelli @imPatrickT There's a huge pro market for iPad Pro, it's just totally different than the MacBook Pro market. It's architects and story-boarders and real-estate agents, and a ton of others for whom a touch display and pencil are game-changers in the field/at client…

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