iPad mini Stage Manager And What it Means for the iPad mini

[Yebubbleman]

I find it a bit ridiculous that Apple released their most powerful multitasking tools for iPad to date, but are requiring an M1 with 8GB of RAM as its minimum requirement of entry. Nevertheless, in the past nine months, Apple updated the iPad mini to a brand new body style with an A15 under the hood, and the iPad Air to M1. Only the current iPad Pro and the months ago brand new iPad Air can use them.

This somewhat begs the question, is Apple going to introduce an iPad mini that supports these multitasking features? Are they going to give the iPad mini an M1 or M2? Or will they update the line with an A16 version that supports them? Or are we thinking that Apple probably feels that the iPad mini is closer in function to the iPhone and therefore doesn't need desktop-class multi-tasking features?

I know that none of us has a crystal ball here, but it does raise quite a few questions that one might want to answer before dropping the cash on a current iPad mini knowing full well that it lacks the ability to use some of the most significant multitasking capability that Apple has yet to release for iPad.

 

[Isengardtom]

I understand the frustration that this feature is M1 exclusive. Especially people that bought the 2020 iPad Pro and to a lesser extent the 2018 iPad Pro / iPad Air 4 are seeing a relatively new device missing out on features.

iPad Mini though is a specific niche for people that want a small portable iPad. I don't really see the need for stage manager on that device. It's basically a tablet for reading, note taking and gaming.

 

[pdaholic]

I can barely stand the tiny windows in split screen in landscape on the Mini 6…the even smaller windows in stage manager would be atrocious.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

I can barely stand the tiny windows in split screen in landscape on the Mini 6…the even smaller windows in stage manager would be atrocious.

Exactly. Wanting to multitask on the Mini is a terrible idea.

 

[Digitalguy]

No M1 for the mini, no stage manager, 6GB RAM at best for the mini 7

 

[major77]

Exactly. Wanting to multitask on the Mini is a terrible idea.

Agreed - but I think an awesome idea is combining the portability of the Mini with stage manager when connected to an external display.

 

[mikedop]

remind me, what's stage manager anyway?

 

[thv]

I don't think anyone is buying the iPad mini to multitask. I'm selling my pro because I don't use it enough but understand the want for that on non M1 pros. But honestly my mini is like a big iPhone/fancy e-reader.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I understand the frustration that this feature is M1 exclusive. Especially people that bought the 2020 iPad Pro and to a lesser extent the 2018 iPad Pro / iPad Air 4 are seeing a relatively new device missing out on features.

iPad Mini though is a specific niche for people that want a small portable iPad. I don't really see the need for stage manager on that device. It's basically a tablet for reading, note taking and gaming.

I can barely stand the tiny windows in split screen in landscape on the Mini 6…the even smaller windows in stage manager would be atrocious.

Exactly. Wanting to multitask on the Mini is a terrible idea.

Agreed - but I think an awesome idea is combining the portability of the Mini with stage manager when connected to an external display.

I don't think anyone is buying the iPad mini to multitask. I'm selling my pro because I don't use it enough but understand the want for that on non M1 pros. But honestly my mini is like a big iPhone/fancy e-reader.

Here's the thing, you guys: If the reasoning for not having something like Stage Manager on an iPad mini is the canvas size, I'll buy that for a dollar! It does look like the kind of multi-tasking feature that is more optimal on a larger canvas.

But I don't think that's what's happening here. It sounds like Stage Manager is over-engineered to require a what an M1 brings to the table. And if that was not the only way to get desktop class multi-tasking on the iPad (in the way that it is not the only way to get desktop class multi-tasking on the Mac), I'd chalk it up to being a higher-end feature that finally utilizes the M1 being in an iPad. But the fact that the only way that we can get true multi-tasking on an iPad is with something like Stage Manager and that Stage Manager REQUIRES an SoC faster than the A12X and A12Z which already were faster than Intel MacBook Airs and Intel 13" MacBook Pros (that can also handle stage manager) makes no real sense.

I also don't buy that an iPad mini shouldn't be able to have multi-tasking. Maybe not in the form of Stage Manager, but in SOME KIND OF UI. Hell, all of the iPhones should have it. It's a feature that Android has had with phones and tablets for years now.

Though, from an Apple marketing prospective, I'm wondering if Apple will agree with you guys and just not ever give this to an iPad mini at all or if now is actually a horrible time to buy the current iPad mini given that an iPad mini supporting Stage Manager might be forthcoming.

Then again, it's not like the iPad mini had three years in between the mini 5 and 6 and four years in between the 4 and 5. Poor thing is updated so infrequently...

 

[GhostOS]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1535400206069649410

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if now is actually a horrible time to buy the current iPad mini

Don't get the iPad Mini 6 lol, it's an awful product. Bad UI scaling and terrible screen with jelly issues, surprised it even made it past Apple's QA, as a company who loves to overly obsess over tiny details.

 

[Spock]

The iPad mini will continue to function the same way that it did when purchased. People complained that Apple seemed to be wasting the potential of the M1 chip in the iPad with the lackluster iPadOS, now they are taking advantage of the performance of the M1, people are complaining. It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that this was going to happen.

 

[jclardy]

Here's the thing, you guys: If the reasoning for not having something like Stage Manager on an iPad mini is the canvas size, I'll buy that for a dollar! It does look like the kind of multi-tasking feature that is more optimal on a larger canvas.

But I don't think that's what's happening here. It sounds like Stage Manager is over-engineered to require a what an M1 brings to the table. And if that was not the only way to get desktop class multi-tasking on the iPad (in the way that it is not the only way to get desktop class multi-tasking on the Mac), I'd chalk it up to being a higher-end feature that finally utilizes the M1 being in an iPad. But the fact that the only way that we can get true multi-tasking on an iPad is with something like Stage Manager and that Stage Manager REQUIRES an SoC faster than the A12X and A12Z which already were faster than Intel MacBook Airs and Intel 13" MacBook Pros (that can also handle stage manager) makes no real sense.

I also don't buy that an iPad mini shouldn't be able to have multi-tasking. Maybe not in the form of Stage Manager, but in SOME KIND OF UI. Hell, all of the iPhones should have it. It's a feature that Android has had with phones and tablets for years now.

The iPad mini does have multitasking, you can already run 4 apps at the same time - two side by side, one in slide over and one video app.

IMO Apple won't ever enable stage manager on the mini, as the UI just won't work as is. By default stage manager wastes a ton of screen real estate just so you can see your wallpaper, the only thing the mini has going for it is width, which is wasted by the window switching display on the side. With the always visible dock you just have no screen real estate to work with. That plus Apple doesn't try to sell a $300 keyboard/trackpad for the mini

I think the only case might be that they enable it for external displays only, which is currently possible with the other M1 iPad's - if you don't "turn on" stage manager, the external display will use it and the bottom display will be a normal iPad.

 

[Ponylover52]

I find it a bit ridiculous that Apple released their most powerful multitasking tools for iPad to date, but are requiring an M1 with 8GB of RAM as its minimum requirement of entry

You really answered you’re own question here.

 

[sparksd]

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Don't get the iPad Mini 6 lol, it's an awful product. Bad UI scaling and terrible screen with jelly issues, surprised it even made it past Apple's QA, as a company who loves to overly obsess over tiny details.

I have the Mini 6 and really enjoy it. Glad I didn't follow this kind of advice.

 

[antiprotest]

The iPad mini will continue to function the same way that it did when purchased. People complained that Apple seemed to be wasting the potential of the M1 chip in the iPad with the lackluster iPadOS, now they are taking advantage of the performance of the M1, people are complaining. It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that this was going to happen.

To say that people will complain no matter what is too simplistic and dismissive. It seems to either miss the point or refuse to see the point.

It's not that people will complain no matter what, but because Apple chose the wrong thing to make M1 exclusive. It is not credible to people that something like this cannot work on slightly older chips.

 

[darngooddesign]

...It is not credible to people that something like this cannot work on slightly older chips.

That's because most people think it's just a app-switcher/window-manager like the Ventura version.

 

[Spock]

To say that people will complain no matter what is too simplistic and dismissive. It seems to either miss the point or refuse to see the point.

It's not that people will complain no matter what, but because Apple chose the wrong thing to make M1 exclusive. It is not credible to people that something like this cannot work on slightly older chips.

I wasn't simplistic in my response. When Apple put the M1 in the iPad, it should have been known that they were eventually going to make iPadOS take advantage of it.

 

[GhostOS]

I have the Mini 6 and really enjoy it. Glad I didn't follow this kind of advice.

Cool, thanks for the update. I had to return mine, I wish I could be as content as some people on here to pay for an expensive new product and be happy keeping a flawed one.

 

[sparksd]

Cool, thanks for the update. I had to return mine, I wish I could be as content as some people on here to pay for an expensive new product and be happy keeping a flawed one.

Sorry, but I don't see it as flawed.

 

[Yebubbleman]

You really answered you’re own question here.

Did I? I think that's the point I'm posing here. We could look at this in one of two ways:

1) Apple doesn't see the iPad mini as the kind of device for which desktop-class multi-tasking is necessary because it's closer to the iPhone in relation than it is to the other iPads in terms of "an iPad could be your next computer", in which case, there will never be any iPad mini product that receives this feature.

2) Apple has plans to eventually bring Stage Manager to an iPad mini in the future, but that won't be the sixth generation iPad mini

To say that people will complain no matter what is too simplistic and dismissive. It seems to either miss the point or refuse to see the point.

It's not that people will complain no matter what, but because Apple chose the wrong thing to make M1 exclusive. It is not credible to people that something like this cannot work on slightly older chips.

I think it's credible that Stage Manager requires an M1 at minimum. What I don't think is credible is that Stage Manager is the only thing they've come up with to give the iPad desktop-class multi-tasking when (a) it ought to be possible to give the iPad desktop-class multi-tasking SOMEHOW using the A12X, A12Z, A14, or A15 at the very least, and (b) There are Intel Macs with similar RAM, storage, and processor performance that have no issue running that many apps at once. I'm not saying it's the best time, but you could take a 2015 MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM (weaker in pretty much every way compared to a fourth generation iPad Air or a sixth generation iPad mini), and load 8 apps on it simultaneously and multi-task and window manage between them using Big Sur, Catalina, or Mojave. The fact that what Apple lande with for iPad multitasking and the fact that it was so deluxe that it required an M1; that's the part that's dumb. They could've been more economical with their design objectives.

That's because most people think it's just a app-switcher/window-manager like the Ventura version.

It's clearly a combination of stuff. Then again, an app-switcher/window-manager a la the Ventura version is sort of what the doctor has long-since ordered. No one needed something so deluxe that an M1 was required for entry. We just wanted to multi-task more effectively and with a GUI that wasn't phone-first in its design.

 

[MajorFubar]

Mini will probably get M1 when the Air and Pro get M2.
They will never be able to bring desktop-class apps to A-series iPads because A-series chips don't support swap.
Macs have supported swap for what, 30 years? The two product lines are incomparable.

 

[The Game 161]

they may add it one day but I don't see the mini being updated for a few years. I also think windows on the mini wouldn't be enough room to be honest

 

[Digitalguy]

Did I? I think that's the point I'm posing here. We could look at this in one of two ways:

1) Apple doesn't see the iPad mini as the kind of device for which desktop-class multi-tasking is necessary because it's closer to the iPhone in relation than it is to the other iPads in terms of "an iPad could be your next computer", in which case, there will never be any iPad mini product that receives this feature.

2) Apple has plans to eventually bring Stage Manager to an iPad mini in the future, but that won't be the sixth generation iPad mini



I think it's credible that Stage Manager requires an M1 at minimum. What I don't think is credible is that Stage Manager is the only thing they've come up with to give the iPad desktop-class multi-tasking when (a) it ought to be possible to give the iPad desktop-class multi-tasking SOMEHOW using the A12X, A12Z, A14, or A15 at the very least, and (b) There are Intel Macs with similar RAM, storage, and processor performance that have no issue running that many apps at once. I'm not saying it's the best time, but you could take a 2015 MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM (weaker in pretty much every way compared to a fourth generation iPad Air or a sixth generation iPad mini), and load 8 apps on it simultaneously and multi-task and window manage between them using Big Sur, Catalina, or Mojave. The fact that what Apple lande with for iPad multitasking and the fact that it was so deluxe that it required an M1; that's the part that's dumb. They could've been more economical with their design objectives.



It's clearly a combination of stuff. Then again, an app-switcher/window-manager a la the Ventura version is sort of what the doctor has long-since ordered. No one needed something so deluxe that an M1 was required for entry. We just wanted to multi-task more effectively and with a GUI that wasn't phone-first in its design.

Regarding Stage Manager, I think there are 2 kind of people, those who wanted better iPad multitasking and those who wanted extended display support (and sure many wanted both, but most probably wanted one feature more than the other). Personally I don't particularly like Stage Manager for multitasking on the iPad. A better split screen (like Samsung does) would have been a better solution for me. However I am in the camp of external display support and I am taking any kind of desktop mode, as long as it's possible to extend the display...
And honestly for extended display any USB C device could have been supported if they reduced the number of active apps on non M1 iPads. But they decided to set the bar very high and make no lite version for non M1 devices. This has a negative impact on the value of older devices (people will upgrade sooner, especially once M2 is out later this year, flooding the market with used 2018 and 2020 pros) and may impact sales of the minis for those wanting this feature (and will reduce the value if a new mini gets M1 next year, which however I doubt will happen)

 

[chrono1081]

Exactly. Wanting to multitask on the Mini is a terrible idea.

Hard disagree. I want it because I already multitask on my mini. Stage Manager even just limited to the device would make this much nicer for me.

 

[Lucas Curious]

apps side my side look too small on the mini. Why the heck would you want even smaller windows with teh stage feature?