When will version 16.0 of LRC be released?

I agree. I only answered the direct question, but it is of course pure speculation that the next version of Lightroom Classic 15 will not address this issue, but Lightroom Classic 16 will. 

Although the next major version is usually released around the time of the Adobe MAX, if the question is about performance, those problems are sometimes addressed between major releases. Sometimes performance bugs are fixed in a minor update, and many times they have introduced significant performance enhancements between major releases.

For example:

• GPU acceleration for export was added in Lightroom Classic 11.4 (not 12).
• GPU acceleration for previews was added in Lightroom Classic 14.5 (not 15).
• Apple Neural Engine acceleration for AI Denoise was enabled in Lightroom Classic 13.4 (not 14), disabled due to bugs, then re-enabled in Lightroom Classic 15.4 (not 16).

So, you could see an improvement before Lightroom Classic 16…but only if they work on the exact problem affecting your configuration. Because other configurations (like my MacBook Pro) run smoothly as it is.

I get why thats frustrating especially if an older version is the only one that feels smooth Hopefully the next major release brings some performance improvements because going backwards really shouldnt be the best fix

Building on Johan’s reply, Adobe releases a new version (*) of LR about every eight weeks. LR 15.4 was released June 18, so we might see LR 15.5 around August 13.

Eight weeks from August 13 is October 8, but as Johan stated, Adobe usually delays releasing the next major version (LR 16) until Adobe Max, which starts November 10 this year.

(*) Adobe often releases “patches”, e.g 15.4.1, in the middle of the eight-week cycle to fix urgent bugs.

Adobe never comments on future developments, but the new yearly version is usually launched around Adobe MAX, which is Nov 10-12, 2026.