Apple has submitted its latest release candidate of macOS Monterey 12.4 to the developer channel for testing, likely the last release before WWDC 2022 on June 6.
Developers registered with Apple can download the new beta from the Apple Developer Center or from the Software Update option in System Preferences on an existing beta.
The biggest feature change, according to MacRumors, is support for the new 15.5 Studio Display firmware, which should address existing issues with the built-in webcam, including camera fine-tuning, improved noise reduction, framing, and the contrast.
If you're overloaded with too many podcast downloads, this update will relieve that too. The update gives the Podcasts app the ability to limit the number of episodes stored on a Mac device and automatically delete old downloaded episodes.
Analysis: More macOS Monterey at WWDC 2022?
While this latest macOS Monterey beta seems pretty light, all things considered, we're less than a month away from WWDC on June 6, 2022. So this might not be the update to go for.
Since WWDC 2022 is Apple's main developer conference, this event could see other major announcements about future updates to macOS Monterey, including major new features and changes to the operating system. Major updates released in a dev channel usually offer more than a few tweaks and bug fixes, so Apple could delay its most exciting changes for WWDC.
That's what we're hoping for because while we're pleased to see our podcast queue a little less full of uploads, this update really could have been sent in an email or something.