Major leak in macOS 26.7 Release Candidate: Was it a developer – or AI?
Apple revealed various hardware details with the almost final next macOS 26 version. Now there are speculations on how it happened.
An Apple leak (symbolic image).
(Image: Muangmoon / Shutterstock)
It was rare for Apple to reveal so many products with a single update: macOS 26.7 Release Candidate 1 was a feast for leak experts who regularly dig through the code of new Apple releases to discover strings and other clues about new devices in the software. Even now, new information is emerging from the next Tahoe version, even though Apple has long since removed it from the server and published a Release Candidate 2 (obviously cleaned of secret material) instead. Now the central question arises: How could a build intended for the public possibly contain such material? Apple will likely never solve this mystery, but there are at least well-founded suspicions. These range from simple user error to an AI-induced oversight.
What happens shortly before an update is released
The story of macOS 26.7 is unusual in itself: Before the release of the first release candidate, there was no developer beta. Testing apparently only took place internally after Apple published macOS 26.6 on July 27 and then released important security updates in the form of macOS 26.6.1 and 26.6.2. Why this happened is unclear. But something went terribly wrong during the compilation of macOS 26.7. Content that did not belong there was apparently “merged” into the final Release Candidate package. The absence of a beta beforehand might have facilitated this error.
In such merging processes, a central development unit collects materials from all departments that are to be included in the final version of an operating system update. This is usually a manual process that is carefully monitored by the person responsible. However, they must also be able to rely on the delivered parts not containing any clues about unreleased products. This was not the case this time. In addition to the camera AirPods, various new Macs, Home products, new iPhones, a new iPad mini, and a new Apple TV remote were leaked. There were strings and feature flags that should not have been in the code.
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A matter of compilation
Apple had already “lost” pre-release builds in the past – through downloads that were apparently incorrectly published. However, macOS 26.7 Release Candidate 1 was a piece of software that reached the public “intentionally.” Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, himself considered one of the most accurate Apple rumor mongers, believes that someone within Apple may have mixed up different versions. “Something that was supposed to remain inside Apple got tangled up with the shipping software – and made it all the way to the release candidate.”
Another pressing question arises: Could the incident have had something to do with the fact that Apple is also increasingly using artificial intelligence, including coding assistants? The iPhone giant’s new CEO, John Ternus, sees “almost unlimited potential” in the technology. However, it can also have significant negative consequences.
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