- Update: Follow our Apple 'Glowtime' event live blog to see full coverage of the iPhone 16 launch.
You all know the score by now. Apple talks about the new versions of iOS, iPadOS and macOS at the September event, but normally it’s the desktop OS that launches the latest of the three. Well, that might not be the case, as Sequoia could be closer than you think!
According to internal Apple documents obtained by MacRumors, macOS 15.0 Sequoia looks set to launch a whole lot sooner — specifically within as little as a week.
Apple is full of surprises
Given the earliest we’ve ever seen a version of macOS launch in the fall is September 20 — way back in 2016 with macOS Sierra — this is a significant switch up to over a decade of Apple’s desktop OS release schedule. In fact, the only other time an OS X release has happened earlier is back in 2012, when Mountain Lion dropped on July 25.
Now all we need is the new M4 Macs to run the AI-infused OS at its absolute best. According to rumors, they will come in an October event.
What to expect
macOS Sequoia is a tale of two halves when it comes to what features you can expect. On one side, you have the feature updates that are limited in number but do bring some big conveniences.
In my time with the beta, I have fallen in love with Window Tiling (finally, Windows 11’s biggest feature is coming to macOS) and iPhone Mirroring for when I want to open an app without digging for my phone! On top of that, you’ve also got improvements to Safari, the new Passwords app, all the new upgrades to iMessage that you’re seeing in iOS 18, and more.
But the real star of the show is Apple Intelligence — bringing big Siri tweaks to make it actually useful with a richer understanding of awareness and personal context, such as finding files really easily on your computer with natural language.
On top of that, new writing tools will let you summarize and rewrite notes (great for when you need to take the passive aggressive sting out of corporate emails), and generative options like Genmoji for custom emoji and Image Playground for your additional moments of creativity (both set to come in a later version).
So in one way, it’s a run of the mill convenience update, but in the other, it’s the start of something big.
