Anthropic is no longer playing the catch-up game with rivals anymore. Earlier this week, I reported, based on rumors, that the company might release Claude Sonnet 5 this week. But new rumors swirling on X and Reddit suggest otherwise. Instead of pushing Claude Sonnet 5 first, Anthropic is reportedly planning to release Claude Opus 4.6 and Opus 4.6 Thinking today.
Claude Opus 4.6 & Opus 4.6 Thinking Might Release Today
The news comes via folks at Windows Report, who spotted a post on X by popular AI tipster leo (@synthwavedd on X) that talks about references to Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.6 Thinking appearing in the Perplexity API. Per the tipster, the new Opus models could debut as soon as today.
🚨NEW: Claude Opus 4.6 & Claude Opus 4.6 Thinking are now live on Perplexity's APIs
— leo 🐾 (@synthwavedd) February 5, 2026
Looks like we're getting it today and Sonnet 5 laterhttps://t.co/pL3m2yOyUd pic.twitter.com/glaky9eAAP
Interestingly, the API references shared by leo suggest that Claude Opus 4.6 is “Anthropic’s most advanced model.” Meanwhile, Opus 4.6 Thinking, as the name suggests, has been marked as “Anthropic’s Opus reasoning model with thinking.” To catch you up, when Anthropic launched Opus 4.5 back in November, it boasted nearly 81% accuracy and called it a “state-of-the-art on tests of real-world software engineering.”
Now that references of Claude Opus 4.6 Thinking have surfaced, we might get an optimized model for deeper, slower reasoning, prioritizing multi-step logic, planning, and complex problem-solving over speed. We might experience more structured explanations, clearer justifications, and noticeably better performance on complex reasoning, autonomous coding, and multi-step workflows. But again, all of that is a possibility; nothing is confirmed as of now. Anthropic hasn’t teased or officially announced anything regarding Claude Opus 4.6 and Opus 4.6 Thinking.
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Claude Sonnet 5 Could Be Delayed as Anthropic Times Its Release to Stay Relevant
Before rumors started to surface about Claude Opus 4.6 and Opus 4.6 Thinking, Sonnet 5 was the talk of the town — and it still is. However, the aforementioned tipster has hinted that Anthropic might release Sonnet 5 later this month. In response to a comment by a user under their post, which reads, “Would be really surprised if they release Opus 4.6 and not Sonnet,” the tipster added, “They’re still releasing Sonnet, and it’s possible they do them at the same time, but I think the more likely scenario is we get Sonnet 5 later this month. There must be some reason to release both, though — perhaps Opus 4.6 > Sonnet 5 on some metrics.”
In short, there’s always a possibility that Anthropic could drop both models at the same time. But given the previous track record of the company, it’s highly unlikely. I would be surprised if they launch all three at once. Given that OpenAI’s GPT-5.3 and Google’s Gemini 3.5 Snow Bunny are still behind closed doors, Anthropic might keep Claude Sonnet 5 under wraps until they show up to steal the show.
So, what do you think? Will Claude Opus 4.6 and Opus 4.6 Thinking be released today? Or will Anthropic surprise us with Claude Sonnet 5? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
