I know this thread is a bit dead, but just wanted to add I had the same problem. An iPad Air 3 and an iPad 9th generation (fresh from the box!!).
Both updates over lightning connected to an M1 Ultra Mac Studio. Apple won’t do anything about it without paying a service fee which is over the value of the iPad itself and even then they won’t guarantee a repair or replacement.
Very disappointing.
Very interesting. So here is the latest on this saga for me that has been ongoing since 10-25-2022...
I made an appointment to visit a local Apple store on 12-16-2022 and honestly this didn't go well. The genius bar techs of course wanted to blame it on faulty hardware that was now out of warranty. I'll spare you all of the details, however, after a LOT of explaining and complaining to the techs and the store manager that this should have not happened to TWO different iPad Mini 5s with completely different laptops that they sync to, they agreed and replaced both iPads at their cost. Side note: They did not believe me when I told them that it wasn't the hardware, it was a bug in the update code for iPadOS 16.x that at a minimum affected iPad Minis Fifth generation (Release date: March 18, 2019).
They had one of the iPad Mini 5s in the store (64GB Wifi Only) so I left home with one and I had to go back at a later date to pick up the other one. When I get home, I loaded all of the backed up data back on to the iPad Mini 5 (which was running 15.6.1). I didn't want to risk bricking the device again because I needed to use it for a few things.
I picked up the other iPad (256GB Wifi Only) a week or so later. Yesterday I got time to attempt to load my data back on to it via a lightening cable connection (not OTA), but this failed several times and I got an error message that the iPad needed to be updated first before I could load the data back on to it. When I attempted to update it from 15.1 to 16.2 via the lightening cable, it bricked the iPad.
So, at this point I knew that it would brick the 64GB iPad Mini 5 as well when I tried to update it via the lightening cable. So I took a video of the attempt to update it from 15.6.1 to 16.2. Like clockwork, the device started the update and once the software was extracted it got stuck in a "boot up" loop. No amount of update, update and restore, etc. would fix the issue. So back to the Apple store today (1-16-2023).
I explained to the Genius Bar lead manager the long saga and how this was my third time to the Apple store for the same problem. At this point, Apple's incompetent software engineers and quality assurance folks had managed to brick 4 iPad Mini 5s, but we were only getting started. The manager said he could only replace the iPads, but he was curious what was going on, so he wanted to try updating another iPad Mini 5 using my laptop via a lightening cable. We did this and we bricked it. To make this sad story even worse, I was hoping to leave the store with at least one working iPad Mini 5 that was updated to the latest iPadOS, so the manager said he'd get another iPad Mini 5 and update it using one of the Genius Bar tech laptop and a lightening cable (so a brand new out of the box iPad Mini 5 and the store's own laptop) when he did this it bricked.
So, 6 bricked iPad Mini 5s later I was told that I (not any of the Apple store employees, managers, general managers, etc.) would need to waste more of my time to call the worthless AppleCare support line to report the problem and see if any of the incompetent Apple engineers could be bothered to look into this clear bug that both they and the QA folks missed.
How no one in Apple's quality assurance department didn't take an iPad Mini 5 (which is one of the models still supported on iPadOS 16.x) and plugged it in to see if an upgrade from 15.X to 16.X would go smoothly is beyond me. They only tested the OTA updates and considered everything good. So this bug has stayed in the full iPadOS 16.x version for several beta and productions versions for months now.
This issue happens whenever you update to ANY iPadOS 16.x version (ie. 15.6.1 to 16.X or 16.1.1 to 16.2) via a lightening cable. I've always updated via a lightening cable so I can lay down a fresh version of the OS instead of doing a patch job that may lead to problems in the future.
I'd like to see how widespread this issue is, so please include the following in your reply if you've also experienced this issue:
Did you update via a tethered connection/lightening cable?
iPad's common hardware name (eg. iPad Mini (5th generation) - Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad_Mini_(5th_generation)):
Model (eg. A2133 - Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad_Mini):
From iPadOS version:
To iPadOS version:
This may be the last straw for me. I've been a long time Apple user and ever since Steve Jobs handed over the leadership reins to the horrible Tim Cook, the company's attention to quality and detail has steadily gone down hill. I'm not going to pay ever increasing prices for hardware and software that isn't well tested and "just works." Part of the reason I've been willing to pay a premium for Apple's products in the past is I don't have to waste much (if any) of my time troubleshooting and fixing issues with my Apple devices.
If you don't get them replaced at their cost, you might consider filing a complaint/report with the FTC, "Report anything you think may be a fraud, scam, or bad business practice."
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/faq
