In our recent poll, we asked how often you update your macOS. We also identified that Apple updates its macOS much more frequently than Microsoft does with Windows. In this article, we look into why this is the case, as well as some recent hiccups in Apple’s macOS release plans.

Are macOS Updates Tied To Hardware Updates?

In our article How Often Do You Update Your macOS? we identified that since 2012, there have been 12 different Mac OS/macOS versions released. In the poll, we asked you, ‘How often do you update your macOS?’ only 12% chose to update every year as soon as the new version was available, whereas 49% of you only update every 2 to 3 years to balance stability with new features.

From the results of this poll, it is clear that most users do not update their macOS every time a new release comes out.

So why does Apple continue this annual circuit of releasing new versions of the macOS?

As you may be aware, when Apple releases new hardware, it is not possible to run the new hardware on a version of the macOS that was released before the hardware was released. Why is this? Recent events shed some light on the reasons for this strategy and why Apple releases new macOS versions so regularly.

Some M3 MacBook Pro Laptops Shipped With macOS Ventura

We have seen an unusual example of this recently with the release of the new 14-inch MacBook Pro. It turns out that some of the new M3 14-inch MacBook Pro laptops have been delivered to users with an unreleased version of macOS Ventura, and even more bizarrely, when users went to look in the Software Update panel, found that macOS Sonoma 14.1 was not showing up. It has taken an unusual set of updates, macOS Ventura 13.6.2 and macOS Sonoma 14.1.1, to resolve this hiccup.

There are two builds of macOS Ventura 13.6.2. Build 22G320 is intended for the older M3 Macs that were unable to be updated to macOS Sonoma. The build 22G2321 is intended for the M3 MacBook Pro that shipped with macOS Ventura.

When it comes to macOS Sonoma, build 23B81 is for any Mac already compatible with macOS Sonoma pre-M3. Whereas build 23B2082 is for Macs with M3 series chipsets.

Both updates are listed by Apple in the Apple security updates and Rapid Security Responses section; although neither entry has any published CVE entries, it is understood that both do have a number of bugs and security fixes. That said, Apple, in a different Support document, has stated that macOS 13.6.2 resolves an issue where MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch computers with Apple silicon started up to a black screen or circled exclamation point after the built-in display’s default refresh rate has been changed. In addition, we understand that macOS 14.1.1 has fixed a bug that prevented users from clicking on a section of the toolbar in Photoshop on macOS 14.

But how could a new Apple laptop model be released with an older version (macOS Ventura) after Apple released macOS Sonoma?

It would appear that some M3 14-inch MacBook Pro laptops have been sitting on the shelf, ready to go since early July. This seems to show that Apple has struggled to get enough M3-powered computers ready to ship as a result of the challenges of making enough reliable M3 chips. But it also shows that there is a version of macOS Ventura able to run on M3-powered Mac computers.

Apple Delay macOS Development To Fix Bugs

Apple employees learned about the delay in operating system development last week, and although not without precedent, is an an unusual move for Apple. We understand that this move is intended to raise quality control following a significant rise in bugs and other issues in the early versions of Apple’s software. As a result, there has been a change of emphasis to fixing the problems and improving performance rather than adding new features. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman explains…

“Last month, the company completed the first version of its next iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems. That iteration is known as M1 since it’s the first major milestone. The iPhone and iPad software, which will become iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, is dubbed ‘Crystal’ internally. The Mac software, macOS 15, is called ‘Glow’. Apple delayed the start of work on the second milestone release, known as M2.”

It now seems that this delay was very short. In his 12th November 2023 edition of Power On, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said…

“Apple is treading carefully, which helps explain the recent delay. By pausing work on iOS 18 — along with iPadOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11 and other next-generation operating systems — engineers could spend a week focused exclusively on rooting out glitches.

The last time Apple made such a move was in 2019, when the company overhauled its procedures. At the time, bugs and feature delays got so bad that new iPhones still had glitches on launch day. The year before that, Federighi was forced to postpone several features from iOS 12 to iOS 13 due to quality issues.

This time around, Apple hit pause right after reaching a key milestone in iOS 18 and macOS 15 development. Last month, the company completed the first internal versions of the updates, including the biggest new features. When Apple gets to that stage, known as M1, it usually embarks on work for the next milestone, M2. In this case, the debugging break delayed the start of M2 development by a week.”

It looks like a week-long pause to concentrate on squashing bugs, some might even call it a bug hackathon, isn’t going to have an impact on Apple’s annual macOS update timetable.

Apple Has Tied macOS Versions To Mac Hardware

It is often a challenge for audio professionals who choose to buy a new Apple Mac computer when it is released because, as we have shown in our macOS compatibility charts, software developers can take some time to support the latest macOS. This can mean that professional audio users have to do without some of their preferred software or not put their brand new Mac into frontline usage until all their software is supported for the new macOS.

This source of frustration is a direct result that, unlike Microsoft Windows, which is not tied to hardware, as it has to work with every PC hardware brand, Apple has chosen to link hardware features to the macOS operating system, and that is why new Macs are not able to run older versions of the macOS because the new macOS has key code in it to enable the new hardware to function.

This software-hardware link would appear to mean that Apple will continue to implement their strategy of updating its macOS operating system annually to enable it to continue to bring new features to its Mac hardware.