Exclusive: macOS 26 beta hints at sealed Mac updates at Apple Stores

In recent years, Apple developed a system codenamed Presto, which updates sealed iPhones wirelessly. This way, customers can unbox their new devices that are already running the latest version of iOS, no matter how long they’ve been sitting in stock.

Now, the company is working on something similar for the Mac.

Presto, but for the Mac

With the release of macOS Tahoe 26 beta 3 this week, Apple has started laying the groundwork for a sealed-device update system on the Mac side, mirroring the Presto mechanism used for iPhones.

With a system like this in place, Apple could theoretically ship hardware first, then wirelessly update the system behind the scenes just before it hits the shelf. This would be especially useful for products on tight schedules, when software and hardware teams are racing toward launch day in parallel.

It would also prevent future Macs from running into situations like the iPhone 15 launch, where devices shipped from the factory running iOS 17.0, but required a day-one update to iOS 17.0.1 to avoid activation issues and data transfer bugs during setup.

Finally, it could make way for a future in which Apple devices already come out of the box associated with the user’s Apple Account, but maybe that’s thinking too outside the, well… box.

The real question is: Will Apple use a mega-toaster?

For Presto, Apple handles updates with a proprietary Mac mini-controlled device, described as a “two-slot toaster” with room for up to six iPhone boxes simultaneously. The system can remotely power on an iPhone, install an iOS update, and power it back down, all without opening the box.

iGeneration

Bringing something like this to the Mac raises a few interesting questions, chief among them: How would the update be triggered?

On the iPhone, Apple seems to rely on NFC to kick off the wireless session, but Macs don’t currently seem to include an NFC chip, like previous Macs did.

Still, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Apple quietly re-add the hardware just for this purpose, or possibly use the same Bluetooth feature that allows the iPhone to remain findable after power off.

As of right now, whether or not this will ever become part of the retail under-the-hood experience is still unclear. But Apple is laying this groundwork, and now you know it.

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