iPadOS 28: The iPad Guide to Apple's 2027 Update

Every year, iPadOS gets announced in the same breath as iOS, uses a matching version number, and then quietly diverges — a different device list, a different Apple Intelligence cutoff, and features that never reach the phone at all. iPadOS 28 will almost certainly follow that pattern in 2027. This page treats the iPad as its own platform: when to expect iPadOS 28, which iPads are likely on the list, and what you actually get on a tablet that you don't get on a phone.

Everything below is a projection built from Apple's release history, not a confirmed statement. Apple hasn't announced iPadOS 28, a keynote date, or a device list — that only happens on stage.

When iPadOS 28 ships

iPadOS has run on the exact same release calendar as iOS since Apple introduced it as a separate name in 2019, and there's no sign of that changing. Based on Apple's own pattern — a June keynote, a same-day developer beta, a public beta a few weeks later, and a final release timed to the fall iPhone lineup — here's the expected iPadOS 28 timeline:

None of these dates are confirmed. They're the same projection this site uses for iOS 28 on the release date page, because iPadOS has never once shipped its keynote, beta, or final release on a different date than iOS. If you want to track the countdown as it firms up, that page is the one to bookmark — this page won't duplicate it.

Same day, same build number

This is the most concrete, verifiable fact about how iPadOS and iOS relate — genuinely useful rather than a marketing talking point. This cycle, iPadOS 27 beta 8 shipped the same day as iOS 27 beta 8 and carries the identical build number, 24A5430a, per Apple's own developer releases feed. That's held across the whole 27 cycle, because both are compiled from the same codebase and released as a matched pair.

Expect the same for iPadOS 28: beta 1 should carry the same build number as iOS 28 beta 1, and so on through the cycle. It's a small, checkable way to confirm two devices are running truly matched software — check Settings → General → About, not the marketing version number alone.

Where the lockstep breaks is the device list. iOS and iPadOS share a build number and a release date; they've never shared a compatibility list.

The expected iPadOS 28 device list

Apple sets the official iPadOS device list on stage at the keynote and hasn't expanded it after the fact in recent memory. Until that happens, the honest way to project it is the same method this site uses for iPhones: look at chip generation, memory, and how many models share that silicon, then apply Apple's usual support window. Based on the current iPad lineup's chip generations, here's where things stand:

Two caveats worth stating directly. First, this is our projection, not Apple's list — treat the "outlook" column exactly like the equivalent column on the iOS 28 device page: informed, but not official. Second, Apple typically refreshes parts of the iPad lineup between now and a 2027 keynote; if a newer iPad ships in the meantime, it lands in the "certain" row by default, and this table gets updated to reflect it.

Why the iPad cutoff doesn't mirror the iPhone's

If you've read the iPhone side of this — iPhone 13 and newer expected, iPhone 12 uncertain — the natural assumption is that the iPad list should land in a similar place, on similar timing. It doesn't, and the reason is specific to how Apple builds and sells iPads.

Apple keeps a budget iPad on old silicon for years

The iPhone lineup replaces its cheapest current model every year or two. The iPad line doesn't move nearly as fast at the bottom: the base iPad (10th generation) launched in 2022 still running the A14 Bionic — the same chip Apple put in the iPhone 12 in 2020. That's two extra years of sales on identical silicon, sold under a newer-sounding generation number. When Apple eventually retires the A14, it isn't just retiring a three-year-old iPhone; it's also retiring an iPad that, depending on when you bought it, might be barely two years old. That gap is the single biggest reason iPad cutoffs don't track iPhone cutoffs on a clean, parallel timeline.

The chip spread across the current lineup is wider

At any given moment, Apple sells iPads spanning from a several-generations-old A-series chip up to the newest M-series silicon — a wider spread than the iPhone lineup typically carries, because the iPad doesn't get a full top-to-bottom refresh every September the way the iPhone does. That wider spread is exactly why the table above has more rows and a longer tail than the iPhone-only comparison: more distinct chip generations are still in active retail sale, so more of them are live candidates for a cutoff decision.

Apple has less pressure to cut the iPad list every year

iOS 27 didn't drop a single iPhone this year — the first time that's happened in two straight cycles. iPadOS has an even longer history of quiet years, partly because the base iPad's slower refresh cadence means there's often no obviously "due for retirement" model sitting at the bottom of the list. Don't read a stable iPad list as a permanent floor, though — Apple has trimmed iPad support before, and the A14 devices above are exactly the kind of shared, multi-year silicon that eventually gets cut in one move rather than gradually.

The models actually on the bubble

Two iPads carry the real uncertainty for iPadOS 28, and it's the same chip both times: iPad (10th generation) and iPad Air (4th generation), both A14. The Air launched in 2020, the same year as the iPhone 12; the base iPad reused the same chip two years later, in 2022. By September 2027, the silicon itself will be seven years old even though the more recent of the two iPads carrying it will be only five. Apple's cutoffs have tracked chip generation more consistently than an individual product's sale date, which is why both iPads' odds look shakier than their own launch dates alone would suggest — and why a cut takes both at once, the same way a chip-family cut always removes every device sharing that silicon in a single move.

What would keep A14 alive one more year is mostly precedent: iOS 27 held its iPhone floor flat for a second straight cycle, and Apple has occasionally done the same on iPad. A new entry-level iPad shipping before the 2027 keynote could also push the eventual cutoff down to A14 on its own, since retiring the oldest chip becomes easier once nothing currently for sale still uses it.

Apple Intelligence on iPad: a different line than iPhone

This is where the iPad and iPhone stories genuinely split, not just in which models qualify but in how the line is drawn at all. On iPhone, Apple Intelligence requires iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16 and later — a line based on a specific chip generation and RAM tier, tied to particular product names.

On iPad, the requirement isn't tied to a "Pro" name the same way. It's drawn by chip family: any iPad with an M-series chip (M1, M2, or M4), or the iPad mini with A17 Pro. That means an iPad Air — never marketed as the "Pro" tier — qualifies for Apple Intelligence the moment it ships with an M-series chip, while a base iPad on A14 or A15 does not, regardless of price or how recently it launched.

Expect that shape to carry into iPadOS 28: the qualifying line should track whichever iPads carry M-series or A17-class silicon, not the iPhone's model-name cutoff. If Apple Intelligence is why you care about iPadOS 28, check your iPad's chip, not its name — an iPad Air can qualify where a same-priced iPad doesn't. For the fuller picture on iPhone, see the iOS 28 Apple Intelligence device requirements.

What iPadOS gets that iOS doesn't

Every year, iPadOS ships a set of features that never reach the iPhone at all, because they depend on screen size, accessory support, or a windowing model a phone display can't accommodate. These aren't scaled-up phone features — they're built specifically for how people use a tablet. Expect iPadOS 28 to keep and extend this list rather than shrink it.

True windowed multitasking with a menu bar

iPadOS 26 introduced a genuinely Mac-like windowing system: resizable, overlapping app windows, a persistent menu bar, and a Preview-style app for marking up files — none of which iOS needs on a single-app phone screen. Expect iPadOS 28 to refine it further: better window management and more capable background handling while windows sit unattended. None of this is confirmed for iPadOS 28 specifically — it's a direction, not an announced feature.

Split View and Slide Over

Running two full apps side by side, or floating a third temporarily over them, has been iPad-only since 2015 and remains one of the clearest reasons professionals reach for an iPad over a phone for real work. There's simply no second app to view side by side on a phone-sized screen.

Desktop-class Safari and external displays

iPadOS Safari renders full desktop sites by default rather than mobile versions, and an external display extends the windowing system onto a second screen instead of just mirroring it — both dependent on iPad-specific engineering iOS doesn't carry.

Apple Pencil-specific tools

Hover previews, pressure-sensitive shading in Notes and Freeform, and Scribble's handwriting-to-text conversion exist because the iPad supports Apple Pencil and iPhone doesn't. These live entirely in iPadOS's input stack, with no iOS equivalent.

Files app with real external storage

iPadOS's Files app browses and works directly from external drives, USB-C storage, and network shares in a way iOS's Files app doesn't attempt — the iPad's accessory ecosystem is built around it functioning as a more complete computer.

The common thread: iPadOS isn't a bigger iOS. It's the same core system with an entire layer built for a device people genuinely use as a laptop replacement — exactly what a page written only about iOS 28 leaves out.

How to check your iPad's chip and eligibility

1. Open Settings → General → About and note the model name.
2. If you're not sure which chip your iPad uses, the model name alone usually tells you — search "[your iPad model] chip" or check the generation against the table above.
3. Match it against the device list above. M-series and A17 Pro models are effectively certain; A15 and A16 should be safe; A14 is the genuine question mark; A13 and older are unlikely to make the cut.
4. Once iPadOS 28 becomes available, install it the same way as any iPadOS update: Settings → General → Software Update. This site never links to third-party firmware — betas and public releases both come through Apple's own channels only.

If your iPad doesn't make the eventual list, nothing about the hardware changes overnight. It keeps running its last supported iPadOS version, keeps receiving security patches for a period afterward, and keeps doing everything it already does — you simply stop getting new iPadOS-version features going forward. For the fuller version of that reasoning as it applies to iPhone, see what happens when a device doesn't make the iOS 28 list.