iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS 14 to bring ‘fewer major changes than originally planned’

Apple has reportedly scaled back some features originally planned to be included with iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS 14 to focus efforts instead on its upcoming mixed-reality headset, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who suggests that the new updates will have “fewer major changes than originally planned” as developers focus on the “xrOS operating system” for the new AR/MR wearable.

Writing in his weekly Power On newsletter on Sunday, Gurman says “Apple’s focus on the xrOS operating system — along with iOS 16 snags — has also cost it some new features in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, the next major iPhone and iPad software updates.” “That software, codenamed Dawn, may have fewer major changes than originally planned. The same goes for macOS 14, which is codenamed Sunburst.”

Within the same report, Gurman has suggested that Apple’s planned January announcement for the new AR/MR headset has been postponed, reporting that the headset will be introduced this spring ahead of the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

The report doesn’t delve deeply into what has allegedly been dropped from iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS 14, nor what to expect from the updates when they are announced later this year, with Gurman stating that Apple’s internal software engineering focus has been put more heavily on the upcoming AR/VR headset to help get the product ready for its planned fall release.