Next week should, if all has gone well with their release candidates, bring updates to macOS across the board, for:

• Tahoe, in its last full update, bringing it to 26.6 with its final general bug fixes;
• Sequoia, in a security update to 15.7.8;
• Sonoma, in what may well be its last security update to 14.8.8.

Another important milestone I hope for is that these updates will reunite firmware versions for Apple silicon Macs. Those fell out of step when Apple released Tahoe 26.5.2 on 29 June, which updated mBoot firmware to version 18000.121.3. Since their first release in 2020, firmware updates for Apple silicon Macs have been synchronised across all supported versions of macOS, with the older two supported versions receiving their updates at the same time.

Because of that, until these updates, Apple silicon Macs running Sequoia or Sonoma have been left with mBoot version 18000.120.36 since their last security updates on 11 May. That has been why those using SilentKnight in Tahoe have been seeing a disparity in firmware versions for the last month. Hopefully, order will return at last.

This is likely to be the last security update provided for Sonoma, as it reaches the end of its second year of security-only updates. There have been previous exceptions: Ventura was given an extra security update to 13.7.8 on 20 August 2025 before its support ended, and Big Sur even made it to a final update in September 2023. However, if you’re still using Sonoma on a Mac capable of running Sequoia, this is the time to decide whether to upgrade to retain security updates for the next year.

One slight complication is that Apple hasn’t been as clear as it might have been over continuing support for Intel Macs. Although it has referred to supporting them for three years, it hasn’t specified whether that might include extending its normal three year support period for Sonoma. So there is a glimmer of hope that those with Intel Macs that can’t be upgraded to Sequoia might just squeeze out another year of security updates, although I suspect that’s not Apple’s intention.

With these updates shipped, Apple’s attention will turn almost entirely to completing macOS 27.0 Golden Gate so it’s ready to ship in September, or possibly October. Likely updates would then be intended for:

• Golden Gate 27.0, its first public release, for Apple silicon Macs only;
• Tahoe 26.7, its first security-only release, starting its first year of security-only support, for both architectures;
• Sequoia 15.8, starting its second year of security-only support, for both architectures.

Although there’s always the possibility of an intermediate out-of-cycle update in late August.

Whatever you have chosen to do in September, with the release of Golden Gate, now is the time to start preparing. I wish you success in your choice.