I can understand that (and have great sympathy with) a small number of users who have encountered some difficulties subsequent to the many changes made in the iPadOS system and UI. A great number of those, having issues, are a consequence of not being aware of (or being blind to) changes to UI gestures and App functionality - and some with “older” iPad models, with only the minimum supported 2GB RAM, experiencing performance issues.
Knowledge can be addressed. Whilst many don’t bother, it is recommended that both established and new device users review the iPad User Guide at any major version update (such as iOS12 to iPadOS13), although it is acknowledged that some of the more esoteric features may become more apparent with use. However, performance issues brought about by lack of system resources (such as RAM) cannot be resolved other than by replacement of the device.
Apple have a very difficult balancing act, in that they try very hard to make new functionality available to as many users as possible - but a choice must ultimately be made as to “acceptability” of both device performance and breadth of availability of the update.
Apple could, for example, set a much “higher bar” (CPU and RAM) for a major update to be available to existing iPad models. This would perhaps reduce the number of complaints of poor performance, but in reducing the update support lifespan, would increase the number of complaints of updates being withheld from users of older iPad models.
The counter approach is to make an update available more widely, but accepting that more issues many be experienced by owners of older devices.
A middle-ground (as Apple might seem to follow) is to do both; major version updates are made available to as many device models as Apple seem comfortable, restricting some features to the newer (higher-spec) devices; owners of current and immediately preceding generations of device experience almost no issues (beyond that of the knowledge gap). Unfortunately, whilst this approach maintains maximum availability of updates (and product support lifespan), those with resource constrained devices may complain of performance issues.
The truth is this...
Today’s generation of iPad (and other) devices will “rock” - but in four or five years, whilst still usable for more mundane tasks, today’s devices will struggle will the newest and greatest Apps and product features. We must perhaps content ourselves in knowing that the support-lifetime of our Apple mobile devices are substantially greater than that of the competition - but all devices become “less capable” over time. Technological progress and product improvement also have negative consequence.
Complaints of Safari shortcomings have been reducing as users overcome the knowledge gap. Some issues, usually relating to performance or stability, are still seen - but these, in general, seem to be seen in devices of only 2GB RAM where system resources are substantially more constrained. For other devices, Safari seems to be very stable - and now much more feature rich. For those that adjust to the new UI - and don’t have a resource constrained model - the current iteration of Safari is very, very good.
Whilst not resolving all issues, for resource constrained devices with greater memory management challenges, functionality and performance more akin to iOS12 can often be restored by disabling (in your Settings) newer Multitasking and ScreenTime features of iPadOS13.
Whilst I strongly encourage, support and enjoy constructive debate, please resist the temptation to simply “flame me” for the above discussion. This reply is intended to be a balanced and objective response, accepting fully that some users do have real issues - and for those that do it is very frustrating. It is also intended to highlight that for many others iPadOS is both a more advanced, more feature rich and substantially more polished and stable iteration of the iOS/iPadOS journey.
I sincerely hope this is helpful to someone - if only in promoting some constructive thought.
