This week, just like clockwork, Apple unveiled its next major release for its desktop and laptop systems – macOS 14 Sonoma. This version brings several under-the-hood features that will further enhance your Mac experience.
These features include:
- Dynamic screen savers with a revamped login screen
- Widgets on desktop
- Video conferencing enhancements
- Web apps from Safari
- Enhanced AutoFill for PDFs and Notes
With all of these great new features, macOS Sonoma will be compatible with the following Mac models:
- MacBook Air (2018 and later)
- MacBook Pro (2018 and later)
- iMac (2019 and later)
- iMac Pro (2017)
- Mac mini (2018 and later)
- Mac Studio (2022 and later)
- Mac Pro (2019 and later)
If you’re coming from Ventura, do note that Sonoma will drop support for Mac models introduced in 2017 (save for the iMac Pro). This includes the last iteration of the 12-inch Retina MacBook, which was discontinued in July 2019.
Additionally, Macs with Apple Silicon will support all of the latest features coming to Sonoma. However, although some Intel-based Macs will be compatible, some of these features will not be supported on those machines most likely because of either performance limitations or the lack of the required neural engine found on Apple Silicon Macs.
This includes:
- Presenter Overlay
- Game Mode
- A new high-performance mode in the Screen Sharing app
- The ability to pair Made for iPhone hearing devices directly with a Mac
- The ability to invoke Siri by saying “Siri” instead of “Hey Siri”
macOS Sonoma will most likely be released sometime around October, just a few months after the public release of iOS 17 and watchOS 10. The initial beta is now available to download for both developers and users as long as they have enrolled in the free version of the Apple Developer Program.
