Development of iOS 18 has been temporarily halted

Apple is forced to do this due to recent quality control issues. That reports Bloomberg based on sources familiar with the matter. This deteriorated quality control surfaced several times after the unveiling of Apple’s iPhone 15 series. For example, the Pro models sometimes became much too hot. Apple partly blames these problems on apps such as Instagram, but later also came up with them itself with an update of iOS to tackle the heat issues. Shortly afterwards, reports of iPhone 15 devices with burned-in screens. Later it turned out that this was also a software problem.

More recently it came out that watches with WatchOS 10.1 see their battery drain quickly. These problems would be resolved shortly via a software update. Although bugs in an operating system like iOS are insurmountable, Apple also seems surprised.

Various unexpected bugs have also been found in the latest versions of Apple’s OS. Hence, it would have immediately ordered all development teams of new iOS, iPadOS, macOS and WatchOS software to work on fixing bugs. Bugs in new software versions, that is.

Delay for iOS 17.4

Apple may also have halted development of iOS 17.4. It was supposed to be unveiled in March. It is still uncertain whether that timeline will still be met. The temporary strike should not cause much delay: according to Bloomberg, it will only last one week. The impact on the introduction of the new Apple software will probably also be limited. This usually only happens in the second half of the year. However, the software is released as a developer beta – usually around WWDC in June.

However, the technology giant has not commented on the strike. So take the message with a grain of salt. At the same time, Bloomberg, and Mark Gurman in particular, is generally well informed about movements within Apple.