🔍 macOS 26 Tahoe vs macOS 15 Sequoia: In-Depth Comparison
With each major release, Apple refines and reimagines the Mac experience.
macOS 26 Tahoe builds on the foundation laid by macOS 15 Sequoia, but brings some significant changes to AI, Continuity, and system-level intelligence. Here's a comprehensive side-by-side comparison to help you understand how macOS 26 stacks up against its predecessor.
| Feature | macOS 15 Sequoia (2024) | macOS 26 Tahoe (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| AI Capabilities | Limited to on-device suggestions and Siri improvements. | Apple Intelligence introduces system-wide AI, rewriting tools, smart replies, Image Playground, and more, deeply integrated with Apple silicon. |
| Siri | Improved context awareness and slightly faster response times. | Completely overhauled Siri with natural language understanding, deeper app integration, memory, and chat-like experience across Mac and iPhone. |
| System Intelligence | Limited proactive suggestions. | Apple Intelligence brings full-blown contextual awareness, prioritizing notifications, summarizing articles, emails, and documents. |
| Privacy | App Tracking Transparency and mail privacy protection. | Private Cloud Compute (PCC) enables AI tasks to run on secure Apple servers when necessary — fully encrypted and anonymous. |
| Writing Tools | No dedicated system-wide tools. | New built-in writing tools: Rewrite, Proofread, and Summarize available in apps like Mail, Notes, and Safari. |
| iPhone Mirroring | Basic Continuity features like copy/paste and AirDrop. | Live iPhone Mirroring with full control from Mac, drag and drop, view notifications, and interact with your phone in real time. |
| Notification Control | Standard Do Not Disturb and Focus modes. | AI-powered notification prioritization — important alerts bubble up while less critical ones are quietly deferred. |
| Image Generation | None. | Image Playground lets you generate custom AI images (sketch, animation, illustration) on demand, built into system apps. |
| Genmoji | Standard emoji support. | New Genmoji feature allows users to create custom AI-powered emojis using text prompts and facial reactions. |
| Search improvements and better categorization. | Full mail categorization, smart summaries, AI-drafted replies, and focused inboxes. | |
| Photos App | Basic editing, Memories, and improved object detection. | Natural language photo search, AI-based clean-up tools (like removing objects from background), enhanced Memories creation with deeper personalization. |
| Safari | Reader Mode and passkey support. | New Highlights feature extracts key points from webpages, auto-summarizes long articles, and improved Reader Mode with AI assistance. |
| Notes App | PDF improvements and handwriting recognition. | Audio transcription, math solver support, and AI-powered summarization inside Notes. |
| System Performance | Optimized for M1 and M2 chips, still supports Intel Macs. | Optimized specifically for M1–M3 chips; drops support for most Intel Macs, improves efficiency with AI-specific processing. |
| Compatibility | Works on many Intel and Apple Silicon Macs (2017+). | Apple Silicon only (M1 and later), drops Intel support completely. |
| Developer Tools | Basic Xcode and Swift updates. | Introduces AI-powered Xcode Assistant to help with code suggestions, auto-documentation, and bug detection using Apple Intelligence. |
| Security Updates | Monthly updates via System Settings. | Background security patching with new fast-update mechanism for zero-day protection and always-on threat scanning. |
| App Integrations | Mostly native Apple app integrations. | Apple Intelligence is open to third-party developers through new APIs; developers can bring AI tools into their apps seamlessly. |
| Continuity Features | Universal Clipboard, Handoff, Sidecar. | Enhanced cross-device intelligence, deeper app handoff between Mac and iPhone via AI, more seamless Sidecar support with iPadOS 18. |
📝 Summary
macOS 15 Sequoia was a meaningful step in polishing the macOS ecosystem, but macOS 26 Tahoe is a clear leap into the future of AI-powered computing. With Apple Intelligence at its core, macOS 26 brings context-aware features, natural language interaction, real-time image generation, deeper app integration, and a far smarter Siri — all while maintaining Apple’s strict privacy standards.
For users with an Apple Silicon Mac, upgrading to macOS 26 is more than just a performance bump — it's a complete rethinking of how you interact with your Mac.
