Apple’s surprise early launch of macOS 15 Sequoia could suggest exciting Apple Intelligence features – or a boring update

We are mere hours away from Apple’s big “Glowtime” event, where the company is expected to announce its new iPhone 16 range – and Mac owners could be in for a treat as well, as it’s widely expected that Apple will reveal the final release of macOS 15 Sequoia alongside the expected iOS, iPadOS, and VisionOS releases.

While macOS 15 Sequoia public beta has been available to download and test for a while now, the fact that Apple could announce a launch date at its Glowtime event is surprising for a number of reasons.

For a start, the event is expected to focus primarily on the new iPhones, arguably Apple’s most important products, so I wouldn’t usually think that Apple would want to spend much time (if any) talking about operating systems for non-iPhone devices.

There are rumors suggesting that Apple could announce new Macs and MacBooks very soon, so you’d imagine that Apple would wait for a dedicated Mac event to announce the new version of macOS.

However, MacRumors claims to have seen Apple documentation that macOS 15 Sequoia will get a full public release by the middle of September, and if this proves correct, the publication notes that this would be the earlier macOS release since Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which launched at the end of July back in 2012.

In recent years, Apple usually has an early September iPhone launch event, with the public release of iOS (the operating system iPhones use) happening shortly before the new iPhones go on sale.

Apple then usually releases the new version of macOS later in the year. The report by MacRumors, then, suggests quite a big break with tradition – and as a MacBook user, this excites and worries me in equal measure.

Why the early release of macOS?

There are a few positive reasons why Apple might release macOS 15 Sequoia early. It could mean that the beta testing stages have concluded and no major issues were found – and Apple simply doesn’t feel the need to hold off releasing the final version of macOS 15. If this is the case, we could get the most stable macOS release in years, with no teething issues, bugs or other problems that have cropped up with previous releases.

It could also suggest that new Macs and MacBooks, such as the rumored M4 MacBook Pro, are indeed coming very soon, and Apple is keen to release macOS 15 Sequoia ahead of the new Macs going on sale.

It’s also widely expected that Apple will dedicated a big chunk of today’s Glowtime event to showing off its new AI tool – Apple Intelligence. The iPhone 16 range (and iOS) will likely be announced with lots of Apple Intelligence integration – and if macOS 15 Sequoia also comes with lots of Apple Intelligence goodies, it would make sense for Apple to announce when we can get it on our Macs during this part of the presentation.

However, an announcement during the iPhone event and an early release might not be all good news. It could suggest that macOS 15 Sequoia is only a minor update over macOS Sonoma, the current version.

The Glowtime event will likely be packed with new iPhone announcements, as well as possibly new Apple Watch and AirPods, so there may not be time to give macOS 15 Sequoia the announcement it deserves. If the launch reveal is rushed, and unceremoniously dumped between more headline-grabbing announcements like a new Apple Watch, then it could be a sign that Apple isn’t as excited about Macs as it once was. If that’s the case, then it would be a real shame indeed.

Either way, we may not have long to wait, so make sure you keep an eye on our Glowtime live blog for all the breaking news as it happens.

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