No. First, that's just a rumor, second, they said A10X, don't assume A10. As I said in that thread, I bet the 2019 iPad with A10 (iPad 7) will be supported, regardless of A10X, as Apple has always given at least 6 years of support to base iPads and it would only get 5 if they don't give it iPadOS 18.iPadOS 18 to drop support for A10/X as expected. So that means only one more iPadOS update for iPad Pro 2018.
iPadOS 18 Rumored to Drop Support for These iPad Models
iPadOS 18 will drop support for iPad models equipped with the A10X Fusion chip, according to a post on X today from a private account with a proven...www.macrumors.com
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iPad Pro How many more iPadOS updates can I expect to get on my 2018 Pro?
- Thread starter The Cockney Rebel
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But what would the point be of Apple dropping support for the 2nd-gen iPad Pro whilst keeping the base A10 iPad supported?
If Apple is dropping A10X, then the older, less powerful A10 will be dropped. It doesn't make sense for the journlist to write "also, A10, A9, and A8 are dropped."
In terms of having 5 years of support, so what? There is a reason why Apple doesn't state # of years of support like Google does. At the end of the day, when the low-cost $329 iPad 7 was launched, it came with a 3-year old A10. If Apple doesn't feel the performance is enough for iPadOS 18, then A10 support gets dropped.
Also to mention the last time they dropped 2 generations of iPhones/iPads was iOS 16 when the 6S/7 lineup at once didn’t get iOS 16 and because A8/A8X and A9/A9X lineups didn’t get iPadOS 16 and 17 a year apart ( and A9 iPad 5 was released 1 and a half years after the 12.9 inch A9X Pro) so yes digitalguy must see A10/A10X getting dropped ( doesn’t matter if iPad 7 was released over 2 years after the A10X Pros)
Because it's 2 years more recent and Apple does not drop support strictly based on specs
Apple does not drop support based on a chip, but for a device or generation of that device (the iPhone 7 with A10 was dropped with IOS 16 while the iPad 5 with A9 was updated to iPadOS 16 for instance)
We'll see what Apple does, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they keep the 2019 iPad 7 supported while dropping support for the 2018 iPad 6 and the 2017 pro (although logically the should have first dropped support for the inferior 2018 A10 iPad with less RAM and only after for the A10X and the 2019 iPad with A10 and more RAM)
I am not sure I understand what you are saying but as I said above "Apple does not drop support based on a chip, but for a device or generation of that device" (the iPhone 7 with A10 was dropped with IOS 16 while the iPad 5 with A9 was updated to iPadOS 16)
A8X iPad Air 2 (2014) and A8 iPad mini 4 (2015) are different generations devices based on the same chip family. But both were dropped at the same time with iPadOS 16.
iPadOS 16/17 features are polyfurcated compared to iOS 16/17. For example, all devices that run iOS 16 support Visual Look Up. But only A12 or newer iPadOS 16 devices support that feature. This is even worse with iPadOS 17. Given A10 iPads already received leniency, I don't think Apple will do it again this year.
Sometimes RAM matters. Other times it's processor. I've not seen a situation where Apple drops support solely based on launch date or generational attributes.
I'm guessing now but there is prob many aspects taken into account.
* CPU
* GPU
* Extra CPU related functions (Neural engine) and CPU bugs
* Memory and not only size but also type
* Screen format/resolution.
* Additional chipset in devices being used (Qualcomm) etc
Sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense why they drop support but there is prob a lot more behind the scenes seen from a development perspective that we don't know about.
It might be down to one or more functionalities that's can be tricky to implement on older devices or implement and having working the way they want. It might also be the case that certain hardware in the device isn't supported from the manufacturer.
Sure, they can always have the option to skip certain features but I guess you have to draw the line somewhere.
* CPU
* GPU
* Extra CPU related functions (Neural engine) and CPU bugs
* Memory and not only size but also type
* Screen format/resolution.
* Additional chipset in devices being used (Qualcomm) etc
Sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense why they drop support but there is prob a lot more behind the scenes seen from a development perspective that we don't know about.
It might be down to one or more functionalities that's can be tricky to implement on older devices or implement and having working the way they want. It might also be the case that certain hardware in the device isn't supported from the manufacturer.
Sure, they can always have the option to skip certain features but I guess you have to draw the line somewhere.