Apple postpones the release of iPadOS 16 to October long after iOS 16

Bad news for iPad users. Apple will delay the release of the iPadOS 16 software update for iPads until October, about a month after the September release of iOS 16 for the iPhone.

While Apple has been rolling out a new version of iPadOS so far right after releasing a new iOS version, it looks like the update for tablets has been delayed this year. Indeed, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who learned from people who asked not to be identified, Apple plans to release iPadOS 16 and iOS 16 on separate schedules.

Apparently, Apple plans to delay the release of iPadOS 16 by about a month compared to iOS 16. The latter would be available in September with the new iPhone 14s; as usual for a new version of iOS, while iPadOS 16 would not arrive until October.

Why might Apple postpone the arrival of iPadOS 16?

According to Mark Gurman, the reason behind this postponement is the new feature Stage Manager. As a reminder, it offers users more ways to view and interact with multiple applications on an iPad. The problem is that people who have beta-tested this feature over the past few months have often complained that it's buggy and confusing.

Gurman thinks early reviews of the feature have Apple worried about the public reception of Stage Manager on iPad; especially since Stage Manager on iPadOS 16 will only work on M1 iPads. This feature should bring the iPad closer to the true laptop replacement that Apple has promised. So the company probably wants to make sure to fix any bugs; that have been in reports before rolling out the new update.

If Stage Manager were to be the main new feature in iPadOS 16, there would be plenty of other additions; including a built-in Weather app, something iPad users have been asking for for years. Many features from iOS 16 will also be available to iPadOS 16; such as Unsend in Mail, SharePlay in Messages, and a new Shared Photo Library in iCloud.