I was wrong; macOS Sonoma might not launch alongside iOS 17 later next month. Previously, I pointed out that Apple could have been planning to release all operating system updates together for the first time in years due to the lack of new features.
But after the company seeded iOS 17 beta 6 alongside the sixth build of iPadOS 17, tvOS 17, and watchOS 10 but did not release the latest macOS Sonoma build, it’s now clear that Apple might be holding on to this operating system update to October.
The reason isn’t because Apple needs more time to perfect macOS Sonoma, but mostly because it might be planning to release new Macs alongside a new operating system. Over the past weeks, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported that M3 Macs are on the horizon.
That said, while iOS 17 and the other operating systems might launch alongside the iPhone 15, we’ll have to wait another month for macOS Sonoma.
These are the Macs that could launch alongside macOS Sonoma
Although it’s unclear if Apple is planning to hold an October event – sometimes the company only announces new products through press releases – there are several Macs that Apple could be planning to introduce. Here they are:
- 13-inch MacBook Air (codenamed Mac 15,1 and J513/J613): could be announced in October with the M3 chip; it was last updated on June 2022. It’s unclear if the 15-inch variation could launch already;
- 13-inch MacBook Pro (codenamed Mac 15,3 and J504): could also be announced in October with the M3 chip; it was last updated on June 2022. No design change is expected;
- 24-inch iMac (codenamed Mac 15,4, Mac 15,5, J433, and J434): last updated in April 2021, Gurman expects this machine to get the M3 chip in the October event. Rumors so far point out that this Mac might maintain the same look as its 2021 version.
- Mac mini (codenamed Mac 15,12): Gurman says Apple started testing what seems to be the M3 Mac mini. It includes eight CPU cores, 10 graphic processor cores, and 24GB of memory. This machine runs macOS Sonoma 14.1, but it’s unclear if it could be introduced later this October.
