Apple's Shift Toward More Staggered Releases Could Bring More Innovation and Less Predictability

[MacRumors]

Apple appears to be slowly moving away from regular, timed hardware and software releases that come on an annual basis, instead favoring more of a staggered product release cycle, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman highlighted in his most recent Power On newsletter.

Gurman suggests that Apple Intelligence is evidence that Apple is "ever-so-slightly" moving away from a big fall launch for its hardware and software products. iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia debuted without any Apple Intelligence features, despite the fact that Apple Intelligence was a key focal point of iOS 18 at the Worldwide Developers Conference, and heavily advertised for the new iPhone 16 models.

Instead, the first Apple Intelligence features will come out in October in an iOS 18.1 update, and Apple plans to add new Apple Intelligence capabilities in iOS 18.2, iOS 18.3, and iOS 18.4. Everything that Apple highlighted in June 2024 won't be available until well into 2025.

Apple has delayed some software features in the past, introducing them in later updates, but with Apple Intelligence, Apple announced everything well in advance and made it clear that the software updates would roll out over time.

Gurman suggests that Apple could continue on this path, adopting a strategy that will see it release products when they're ready rather than pushing to get devices out on a scheduled timeline. As Apple's product lineup has grown more complex, software has also become more complicated. This year, Apple had to pull iPadOS 18 for the new M4 iPad Pro models after it was released, plus it had to remove beta versions of watchOS 11.1 and the HomePod Software 18.1 because the software was causing significant issues.

Apple is not expected to stop offering yearly releases of the iPhone, but there are signs that it is holding updates on some other products. There was no new version of the Apple Watch SE this year (and it seems to be on a 3-year update cycle as of now), nor did Apple introduce a new Apple Watch Ultra, instead adding a new color for the Ultra 2.

Macs and iPads that are planned for 2025 will come at various points throughout the year and may not be tied to specific events like WWDC and the September iPhone event. Gurman has previously said Apple will introduce new MacBook Air models, new iPad Air models, and a new iPhone SE early in 2025, with a Mac Studio to follow in mid-2025 and a Mac Pro to come later.

Gurman suggests that continuing on with a staggered approach could result in more innovation thanks to fewer timing constraints, and that such a strategy would also make Apple less predictable, which is something that the company aims for.

Article Link: Apple's Shift Toward More Staggered Releases Could Bring More Innovation and Less Predictability

 

[grantishere]

This is what Steve would've wanted. Good job Apple. This will actually give you time to think different

 

[cjsuk]

More screw ups too.

Play chess one piece at a time.

Perfection is more important than innovation now. When you innovate too hard you end up with Apple mice.

 

[Logamaniac]

Give us a promotion thunderbolt 5 monitor now then, stagger the pros, studios and minis behind that!

 

[goobot]

They also only updated their high end headphones with a new port meanwhile their cheap headphones has a better chip in it.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Seems more like stumbling rather than staggering. Is it safe to install sequoia/iOS 18 yet?

 

[aaronage]

Seems sensible!
I’m sure the people who complain about iterative updates will welcome this change (or just switch to whining that Apple is too slow… probably that 😅).

 

[vertsix]

The only problem, at least with Apple Intelligence, is that the feature is being advertised heavily and promoted in marketing for devices already released and being sold, and it is NOT available at the time of purchase. Just a lawsuit waiting to happen.

I am OK with staggered releases so things are more stable and focused, but do NOT provide them in marketing if they're not available at launch, or at least make it EXTREMELY clear it is not available at the time of purchase.

 

[cjsuk]

Seems sensible!
I’m sure the people who complain about iterative updates will welcome this change (or just switch to whining that Apple is too slow… probably that 😅).

Nobody is ever happy.

However having worked in the software and engineering sectors for 30 years, no one is happy if you make big changes infrequently because they get scared. And so they should because they are mostly a crapfest.

 

[Anonymous123]

As much as I’d love Apple to slow down the release schedule, the cynical side of me thinks this will just slow innovation further. Think about it, just because Apple is releasing products less often doesn’t mean when they are released they will be any more of an upgrade. If the iPhone release schedule has taught us anything, it’s that hardware features are being drip fed year after year. This can still happen even if it’s every two years or longer. Just look at the differences between the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro as an example. Or, of course, the original vs. newest AirPods Max (nearly four years later and barely an upgrade).

And as far as staggering software updates go, Apple already did it this year and it hasn’t worked out great so far given all the bugs, bricking, and such. I’d love to be wrong on all of this though.

I personally just want Apple to spend a year focusing on stability and polish in its software rather than innovation. There doesn’t have to be a ton of (arguably) unnecessary features for every major release. Maybe save those for every other year instead, with the year in between focusing on stability and polish, similar to the Leopard and Snow Leopard updates.

 

[boak]

Or … make sure they’re ready before announcing them. Groundbreaking, I know.

 

[MrGimper]

Over the last few years ... well probably since the wastebin mac pro, Apple have done much more "coming soon" and "in a future update". In fact wasn't the first iOS "coming in a future update" thing the portrait mode on the XS?

 

[Fluffyk]

This isn’t gonna change anything. It’s like when say that a major software release is going to be focused on improving performance and reliability but it always didn’t deliver. The sad reality is that Apple without it’s passionate visionary is a washed up company without any real vision and focus too much on profit and making shareholders happy. Apple no longer thinks different.

 

[msackey]

This makes a WHOLE lot more sense. The cycle of a year is artificial for product releases. There's no need to create either an internal (internal to Apple) or external expectation of needing to release something new after a set number of time units have passed. That's silly. Release it when ready and/or timing is appropriate.

Like the release of the Ultra 2 last year. That seemed like an unnecessary update. Instead, they might have bundled up last year's Ultra 2 updates and combine them with this year's Ultra 2 updates (plus larger screen à la Series 10). That would have made a much more sensible Ultra 2 update. No reason that a newly released product line like the original Ultra couldn't have stand on its own for about 2 years.

 

[Andres Cantu]

That sounds nice in writing, but in practice, I think users deserve some sort of “Snow Leopard” where they also take periodic times off to improve performance and stability and have big fixes rather than new features.

 

[East India Company]

Doesn't seem right to base an analysis on this year's release: Apple Intelligence was announced in a hurry at WWDC because Apple was very late to the party and trying hard to catchup. At the time they were talking with every generative AI provider to try to sign deals and they wanted to show investors that they were "in" (although they had nothing).

Hence why the features are released over this year and next year, simply because Apple is absolutely not ready. Not a calculated move at all in my opinion.

 

[scrapesleon]

So they still don’t plan on stopping to release these minor changes on new iPhones stubborn much

 

[ForkHandles]

These software release numbers.

Why don’t they homogenise them all to same release number 18.0?

After all they are designed to work in handoff mode with each other. Updating iOS inevitably leads to an update of macOS iPadOS and vision os

The legacy of name macOS with titles and releases numbers is surely outdated.

 

[AeroEd]

we still doubting low iPhone 16 sales? Or too early to tell

 

[jz0309]

“Less predictability”??? Does he already need an excuse for being wrong or not really knowing what’s going on?

 

[JohnC1959]

Seems more like stumbling rather than staggering. Is it safe to install sequoia/iOS 18 yet?

Well I have both installed with no problems. Though I just seem to be lucky that way

 

[pdaholic]

Innovation slows down, and prices keep going higher and higher.

That’s what happens when you have no formidable competition.

 

[JohnC1959]

Innovation slows down, and prices keep going higher and higher.

That’s what happens when you have no formidable competition.

Those two statements seem a bit at odds with each other. How can you not have any substantial competition if you don't innovate? If they are leading (I'm sure many will both agree and disagree with this) then the competition isn't innovating either.

 

[picpicmac]

Gurman suggests that continuing on with a staggered approach could result in more innovation thanks to fewer timing constraints, and that such a strategy would also make Apple less predictable, which is something that the company aims for.

Oh please.

Few things have become more tiresome than the toxic fandom of certain companies whining about "innovation" or a supposed lack thereof.

What the whiners want is stimulation for their otherwise boring lives.

Often the most important innovations in computing are under the hood, completely invisible to the end use.

 

[pugxiwawa]

Why would Apple slow down releases? They know they just need to add minimum new features every year and the sheeps will go out and spend money to upgrade regardless. If anything, it is to Apple’s benefits to drag out upgrades for as long as possible, stagger release for all new techs.

Slowing down releases is literally leaving money on the table.