General The M1 chip of the iPad pro is not operated by the iPad0S 15

Ahmedoo94 · June 11, 2021

The hardware of the new iPad Pro 2021 is absolutely exceptional, far beyond any competition in the tablet world, and often even laptops. But, iPadOS 15 recently announced by Apple is still not "pro". This is one of the things we hoped for from this new firmware.

A MOTOR CLAMPED BY THE SOFTWARE

After the launch of new iPad Pro M1 models in May, many predicted and hoped that the device maker would unveil a professional-oriented iPadOS 15 at its global developer conference.

But ultimately, it's a disappointment overall for users who expected more features from the Mac - including a more robust multitasking system, proper support for external monitors, and greater compatibility with external devices.

All this went by the wayside to leave us some odds and ends:

New buttons to summon the same "old" multitasking - an improvement, but not the overhaul needed.
Widgets that can be placed anywhere on the Home screen - seen a year ago on the iPhone.
The ability to quickly jot down notes in an app, which could previously be done by tapping the lock screen with an Apple Pencil.
None of the improvements cited are inherently bad, but they just don't go far enough for a device that runs the same processor as the latest Mac M1s - systems that wow the competition, get rave reviews from experts. and sell like hot cakes.

There is so much power in the sleek iPad Pro, so much untapped potential, that users and developers have been clamoring for an iPadOS overhaul to truly unleash the beast.

A COPY OF THE MAC, WITHOUT MACOS
THE RAM, WHY DO IT?
The new iPad Pro, for the first time, comes with options of 8 or 16 GB of RAM, making it even more Mac-compliant. When the iPad Pro M1 went on sale, developers noted that apps were limited to 5GB of RAM in iPadOS 14, which suggests more power would be made available to developers with iPadOS 15. Yet , during this week's WWDC, there was no information to take professional-grade iPad apps to the next level.

USB PORT OPERATED
Although it has a USB-4 / Thunderbolt 3 port, the new iPad Pro does not offer full support for external monitors. On the home screen and throughout the native operating system, the iPad will simply mirror what is displayed on the iPad. Do you have a 16: 9 widescreen? Too bad you get a 4: 3 ratio that matches what your iPad is already showing you.

Again, there is no technical reason for this limitation based on the hardware of the new iPad Pro, or even in models of the previous generation. Each Mac M1 is capable of driving an external display at its native resolution. This flaw is simply a limitation of iPadOS, and it will likely not be fixed in the next version 15 upgrade.

This USB-4 port is also hampered when it comes to audio inputs. A podcaster or director still cannot handle multiple audio inputs on the iPad Pro because only one app at a time can leverage incoming audio from an external microphone.

ALWAYS NO XCODE
And on the developers' side, while the M1 chip could have enabled the arrival of Xcode which, coupled with Magic Keyboard, could have replaced a Mac, nothing has been done. Or almost. Indeed, Apple essentially mocked the developers by introducing an improved version of Swift Playgrounds - an educational tool created to help kids learn to code - that will allow iPad users to write and submit apps to the computer. 'App Store. But which development team will switch to Playgrounds which is limited to SwiftUI?

THE MULTI WHAT?
Finally, multitasking on the iPad Pro - that is, showing two or more apps on the screen at the same time - has been a mess for years. He very clearly needs to be seen again and released.

Instead, with iPadOS 15, Apple has simplified the current system by adding dedicated buttons that will make it easier for users to invoke features like Split View, or create a full screen split app again. We would have preferred a more flexible version with windows like on macOS or Windows, enough to justify the name of the iPad Pro.

AND NOW ? IPADOS 16?
It remains to wait until iPadOS 16, the next major version. Yes, Apple is not ready to revolutionize everything on its tablet, first to keep its sales on the Mac side, but also because the pandemic seems to have affected the teams of the giants with much less new than in the accustomed to its different operating systems. There are 250 new features on iOS 15, but they are often minor ...