We’ve barely upgraded our Apple devices to the new versions of their operating systems, and already, there’s a delay on next year’s software updates. But it’s for a good reason, according to sources familiar with the pause.
Bloomberg reports that Apple told employees in an email last week it’s paused development on next year’s iPhone, iPad, and Mac software to get the bugs out of the latest releases. That means iOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, and tvOS 18 were put on hold so the teams could give precedence to finding and discovering bugs in iOS 17 and everything else.
We’ll have to wait and see how far the delay sets Apple back for the next generation. Developers still need to cross over to the second milestone in the development timeline. The company has finished updating devices for 2023, though it is working on iOS 17.4, which is expected in March 2024.
Updates to iPad OS and the MacBook Air should follow after that. While there is no timeline for how long we’ll have to wait for next year’s other software updates, those don’t tend to hit until the end of the year, anyway.
Apple has not responded to requests for comment about the company-wide delay, which is too bad. It’s okay to admit when plans have changed for the greater good, especially since buggy software isn’t a selling point for anyone. Look at the blowback from Google’s flub with the Android 14 storage bug. The support forums teemed with weary users pleading for a fix just after the software went live.
Google finally pushed out a fix for the issue last week, but folks will have to factory reset to get back into their devices. It leaves behind a sour taste—the kind of thing that turns Android users into iPhone users.