The new M4 Macs won’t have Apple Intelligence out of the box

If you go to Apple’s website to check out the new M4 Macs, you’ll see one phrase repeated over and over again: Apple Intelligence. However, if you buy one of those new Macs, it won’t actually be able to run the new AI suite right when it arrives next week.

Don’t worry, it’s not like the iPhone 16—the new computers do have the hardware and software to support Apple Intelligence on day one. They’ll just need a quick software update first. According to Macrumors, the new M4 iMac, MacBook, and Mac mini will need an update to ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.1 (build number 24B2083). The computers all ship with a special version of macOS Sequoia‌ 15.0 with build number 24A8332.

MacOS 15.1, of course, brings Apple intelligence to Apple silicon Macs, including Writing Tools, summaries, the new Siri interface, better search in Photos, and a new Reduce Interruptions Focus mode. 

Users can also sign up for the macOS 15.2 beta, which brings several new Apple Intelligence features, including Genmoji, the Image Playground app, the new Mail app with AI-sorted categories, and integration with ChatGPT. That update is expected to arrive for all users in December.