iPadOS 18.1 Bricked My Brand New iPad Pro (M4) - What's Wrong With Apple?
There have been issues with iPadOS 18 bricking devices for the past two months. While my problem was easily solved, it calls into question the usual perfection of Apple products.
People buy Apple products because they are beautiful and because they work. Yesterday, I bought the new iPad Pro (13-inch) with Apple's own M4 chip. I couldn't wait to get it out of the box and set up my new iPad. Unpacking Apple's thoughtfully designed, high-quality packaging was, as always, a very satisfying experience. Anyone who has ever bought a new Apple product knows the feeling, even the smell is special.
I placed my new and old iPads next to each other to transfer the data as usual. After clicking through the familiar menus, the new iPad (which came with a version of iPadOS 17) wanted to update to iPadOS 18.1. The update began, and I went to get a cup of coffee. After 15 minutes, I found the iPad with a frozen screen, unable to update. I was pretty surprised, maybe it's the Wi-Fi? I rebooted the router and started over. Twenty minutes later I was back and the screen was frozen again and the iPad wouldn't update.
Next, I tried to set up the new iPad using a backup of my old iPad from the cloud instead of transferring it from iPad to iPad, which also didn't work. I spent the next 2 hours of my free Saturday resetting the iPad and redoing the installation. I'm so used to Apple's quality that it doesn't even occur to me that the iPad is the problem and not somehow me. At some point (way too late) I googled the problem and found many desperate forum posts about the problem starting in September. I also found articles from late September saying that Apple had solved the problem. It's November, can it really be that Apple hasn't fixed an annoying issue like this?
At some point I reached the end of my rope and called Apple support. After a surprisingly short wait of no more than 3 minutes, I spoke to a very friendly lady who immediately knew what to do (so the problem seemed to be known). Following her instructions, I reset the iPad again, connected it to my Mac, and updated the iPad from my Mac (you have to select the freshly reset iPad in the Finder to update it). This worked, and I was finally able to transfer my old iPad to the new one, which was now running iPadOS 18.1.
I was relieved that my new iPad was working, but extremely annoyed that this had cost me my Saturday afternoon (not to mention my blood pressure). I contact the Apple Premium Reseller who sold me the iPad. The salesman, who was also very friendly, admits that 18 desperate customers have returned to the store with this problem in the last few days alone. But his workaround is different from the one Apple support recommends: He first sets up the iPad without a backup, then installs iPadOS 18.1, and then resets the iPad so that the transfer or restore from a backup can begin without the mandatory update. Apparently, the new iPad Pro is not able to do both restore from backup and update on its own.
The salesman also told me that the same problem sometimes occurs with the new iPhone 16, and that desperate users keep coming back with their brand-new, useless devices. When I ask the salesman why he didn't warn me, he avoids answering my question and tells me that these new problems are driving him to despair as well.
Anyway, my new iPad Pro works now, and I love it. But less so with Apple. Software is getting more complex and bugs are going to happen, but Apple's inability to fix a problem like this with their new devices in 2 months is astounding. Even the prettiest packaging won't help if you annoy your customers with devices that are bricked because they can't do a mandatory update. I expect Apple products to just work - that promise has now been broken for me.
Coincidentally, I took my profit and sold my Apple shares on Friday as the stock seemed "priced for perfection" to me. At first I struggled with this decision, but the experience with my new iPad felt like a confirmation. Of course, a software problem like this is only a minor issue and will certainly not affect Apple's sales in the short term. However, Apple is valued at a high premium based on the company's long-term reputation and the quality of its products. So I wouldn't underestimate such issues. Apple waited relatively long to implement generative AI on its devices and announced and released IOS 18 with great fanfare. In January, I myself wrote euphorically that I expected the iPhone 16 with the next iOS to be a game changer for AI at the edge. Of course, Apple's ecosystem prevents customers from rushing to the competition, but at the same time, such minor quality flaws undermine customer trust in the long run. If Apple can't maintain expected quality, the moat that keeps customers in the ecosystem will shrink.
