Surprising iOS 14.8 update might be on the way

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iOS 14 adoption. It’s a good thing.
iOS 14 just keeps going and going. Next on the docket is apparently iOS 14.8.
Photo: Apple

Don’t think iOS 14 is ready to ride off into the sunset. There’s strong evidence there could still be another version released, even as Apple works on iOS 15. But it’s not clear what will be in iOS 14.8.

Brendan Shanks noticed Monday that Apple’s developer tool Xcode 13 beta 4 has a reference to iOS 14.8.

iOS 14.8 might bring more than bug fixes

At this point there’s nothing to indicate what the upcoming version has to offer. But its version number suggests there’ll be new features.

iOS 14.7 came out on mid July, and was followed by 14.7.1 to patch a security flaw. If Apple planned another big fix update, this would likely be iOS 14.7.2. But it’s not.

No beta versions for the upcoming version have been released to developers. These will almost certainly offer the first glimpse anyone outside of Apple will get of it.

While iOS 14.8 seems very late, it wouldn’t be unprecedented. iOS 13.7 came out September 1, 2020. This was a fairly significant update with several new features.

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