The 64GB iPad Air 5 model will not include the virtual memory swap feature of iPadOS 16

Apple recently announced two new features coming to the iPad M1 with the upcoming iPadOS 16 update. This includes the Stage Manager function and virtual memory swapping. However, while all three iPad M1s have both features, the base model of the fifth-generation iPad Air will not receive virtual memory swap.

Virtual memory swap is essentially a paging file, a reserved portion of device memory that can be used as virtual memory when the device runs out of system memory. The virtual memory swap feature in iPadOS 16 can reserve up to 16GB of storage space for use as system memory if a particularly demanding application requires it.

Due to its memory sensitive nature, Apple has decided to limit this feature to only devices with at least 128GB of built-in storage. This isn’t a problem for the two iPad Pro models, both of which come with 128GB of base memory. However, the iPad Air 5 2022 only has 64GB as its base storage, which is why that variant will not include this feature and will only be available on the 256GB variant.

This, however, contradicts why Apple doesn’t include the Stage Manager feature for not being present on non-M1 iPads. In addition to taking advantage of the improved performance of the M1, Stage Manager also relies on the 8GB memory and virtual memory swap feature to load and run loads of apps at the same time.

With the base iPad Air 5 not including virtual memory swapping but still has Stage Manager, some have questioned the need for the M1 to perform this function. Of course, there is still the performance difference between the M1 and A14 used on the iPad Air 4, but perhaps a more limited version of Stage Manager could have been included on the older iPads.

Of course, as we go further down the iPad range, the processors get slower and the system memory goes down, which questions the viability of a feature like Stage Manager on these devices. With Apple prioritizing performance, it makes sense why older iPads can’t perform this function.

Therefore, we think it’s only fair that the functionality is limited to the iPad M1s. It would, however, be interesting to see how the feature works on the base iPad Air 5 compared to the 256GB model or iPad Pro.