iPadOS 16 says goodbye to iPad Air 2, but supports most older hardware

iOS 16 ends support for several generations of older iPhones, including most hardware that used Apple’s A9 or A10 chips. iPadOS usually follows suit when iOS ditches older hardware, but it looks like iPadOS 16 will be more forgiving of iPads with older chips.

According to an Apple press release, iPadOS 16 will run on the following models:

• iPad 5th generation and newer (this is the one released in 2017, the first $329 iPad).
• iPad Air (3rd generation) and later.
• iPad mini (5th generation) and later.
• All iPad Pro models.

This means the 2014 iPad Air 2 (which Apple sold for years as a cheaper model before the $329 iPad came along) and the 2015 iPad mini 4 won’t support the new OS, but most other models that can be upgraded to iPadOS. 15 will also be able to run iPadOS 16. Apple may continue to provide iOS and iPadOS 15 security updates for devices that can’t update to iPadOS 16, but we need to wait for confirmation before we know for sure.

As with most Apple software releases, not all iPad hardware will be able to take advantage of all of the new iPadOS 16 features. Some of the advanced features that Apple boasted about, including virtual memory swapping, require an iPad Pro or 6th generation iPad Air with Apple’s M1 chip.

But overall, Apple’s compatibility limits for iOS and iPadOS seem to have more to do with when the devices were introduced than with the hardware inside. Hardware from 2014, 2015, and even 2016 — the iPad Air 2, iPhone 7, and first generation iPhone SE — is usually reset. Hardware released in 2017 or later is generally supported.