iPadOS 16 is coming Monday, but you’ll need a very new iPad to take advantage of all the features

The first version of iPadOS 16 for iPad, iPadOS 16.1, is due out on Monday, October 24, and it’s a big update. Along with the features of iOS 16, including editing sent messages and passkeys, many new iPad-only features are also coming to help Apple’s tablet evolve from a larger version of the iPhone into a device of its own.

However, this advance comes with a few trade-offs, the main one being that some of the new features will only work on iPads that use an M1 or M2 chip instead of an A-series processor. In other words, you need one of the latest iPad Pros or the latest iPad Air to run several new features of iPadOS 16.1 — and some have even stricter requirements. Here’s a look at the features that require an M1 or M2 processor or other hardware requirements.

External display support

Apple recently announced that full external display support will not be available when iPadOS 16.1 is released. Instead, it will be included in an iPadOS 16 update later this year.

External display support works on iPad Pros with an M1 or M2 and works with resolutions up to 6K. Apps will be accessible via the external display, drag-and-drop will work between the display and the iPad Pro, and Stage Manager will be supported. Speaking of…

Internship Manager

Stage Manager is a new multitasking user interface and the main feature of iPadOS 16.1. Apple originally said it needed an M1 iPad, but recently relaxed those restrictions so it now works on iPad Pros that use A12X (2018) and A12Z (2020) chips. However, these A-Series iPad Pros still can’t run Stage Manager on an external display, and it sounds like Apple has no plans to make it work in a later update.

reference mode

Reference mode, a feature on M-series Macs, is the ability to display reference colors needed in high-end production environments. iPadOS 16.1 also has a new reference mode, but it requires a Liquid Retina XDR display, which is only available on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Apple

Magnifying glass detection mode and door detection

Magnifier in iPadOS 16.1 has an accessibility feature called Discovery Mode that provides descriptions of doors, people, and images. Door recognition goes even further and can read signs around a door and figure out how to open it. To use these new detection tools, you need a 12.9-inch 4th, 5th, or 6th generation iPad Pro or an 11-inch 2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation iPad Pro with an A12Z , M1 or M2 processor.

Virtual memory replacement

This feature allows the M1 and M2-based iPads to allocate SSD space for use as RAM, up to 16GB. However, in order to use this feature on an M1 iPad Air, the device must have at least 256 GB of storage space. The iPad Pros have no such limitation.

See Also If you don’t have an M1 Mac or iPad, these are the features you’ll be missing this fall.

11-inch iPad Pro (2021)

RRP:

128GB WiFi $799 | 128GB WiFi + Cellular $999

iPad Pro (2022)

RRP:

$599 (64GB); $749 (256GB)