"Note
AudioDriverKit is available on macOS for Intel and Apple Silicon devices, and on iPadOS for devices with an M-series processor."
Maybe they are idiots, maybe the docs are out of date, maybe theres alternate methods.. but it does seem at some point there was/is an A/M series software ability differences in iPad OS.
Like I said, you can gate by capabilities but not by hardware.
I was referring to your last paragraph about the supposed explicit compatibility settings in the App Store per hardware. That is not a thing. Your example is specifically a capability, and one that requires PCIe, therefore needs thunderbolt.
Apple themselves may gate those capabilities behind different product classes, but as a developer you cannot. That in turn makes it very difficult to know specifically why something isn’t supported.
There are also capabilities that diverge in other axes like newer A series chips support things where an M series doesn’t. Hardware raytracing was an example of that for a while. Or still is because there are different gens of M series chips for sale.
"Note AudioDriverKit is available on macOS for Intel and Apple Silicon devices, and on iPadOS for devices with an M-series processor."
Maybe they are idiots, maybe the docs are out of date, maybe theres alternate methods.. but it does seem at some point there was/is an A/M series software ability differences in iPad OS.