Back in late September, mentions of a "High Power" mode were spotted in macOS Monterey code, and it appears Apple is still working on the feature. Battery code in the macOS Monterey release candidate mentions a "High Power" option, and this time, includes additional detail.
"Your Mac will optimize performance to better support resource-intensive tasks. This may result in louder fan noise," reads the code. The mention was discovered by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser.
There is no High Power mode that appears to be present in the macOS Monterey beta on an M1 Mac, so it's possible that this is something that's exclusive to the M1 Pro and M1 MaxMacBook Pro machines that are launching next week. Such a feature was not mentioned on stage today.
It's also possible that this is a forthcoming feature that's not quite ready to launch and that's why we're not yet seeing it as a consumer-facing option in macOS Monterey.
macOS Monterey is set to be released to the public on Monday, October 25, and the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models will begin arriving to customers the next day, so we won't have long to wait to find out if there's a hidden High Power mode.
Apple is planning to debut a high-end secondary version of AirPods Pro 3 this year, sitting in the lineup alongside the current model, reports suggest.
Back in September 2025, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to introduce a successor to the AirPods Pro 3 in 2026. This would be somewhat unusual since Apple normally waits around three years to make major...
Tuesday January 20, 2026 2:34 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely.
Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the ...
Sunday January 18, 2026 3:51 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 27 is still many months away, but there are already plenty of rumors about new features that will be included in the software update.
The first beta of iOS 27 will be released during WWDC 2026 in June, and the update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense...
Sunday January 18, 2026 6:50 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
MacBook Pro availability is tightening on Apple's online store, with select configurations facing up to a two-month delivery timeframe in the United States.
A few 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro configurations with an M4 Pro chip are not facing any shipping delay, but estimated delivery dates for many configurations with an M4 Max chip range from February 6 to February 24 or even later. At...
Tuesday January 20, 2026 4:36 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple's App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple TV service are experiencing an outage at the current time, according to Apple's System Status page.
Apple says that some users may be experiencing issues with the App Store and iTunes Store. Apple also says some users may be seeing intermittent issues with Apple TV. The Apple TV Channels feature is down too, and users may be unable to access some...
Hopefully you can just configure it to tie "high power mode" to being plugged in. If my Macbook is plugged in, it can have all the chunky watts it wants. I don't want to have to think about it. :)
