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The iOS 10.x.x Beta Speculation Thread
- Thread starter gwhizkids
- Start date
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I think beta 7 was an aberration. Came too quickly after 6.
Others may follow suit.
There is a .000001% chance of that. For the third time, the last beta is still a beta build. For the last year, Apple has been releasing the final release to developers and testers first.
Actually if final comes today without resolving the issues, it may be worse than having 8th beta or ninth beta.
[doublepost=1490024973][/doublepost]
The beta 4 for 10.2.1 was the same as the final release.
They're announcing new products tomorrow. I bet there will be possibly a final beta today, then general public release of the same build tomorrow.
Thats exactly my point. Beta 4 was a non-beta build. Beta 7 of 10.3 is a beta build. Just look at all the build numbers. We will see one more beta.
[doublepost=1490025080][/doublepost]
Says who? Because there is maintenance on their website? Don't hold your breath.
Stop crushing my hopes and dreams. I'm in the market for a new iPad and want them to announce one damnit!
Stop crushing my hopes and dreams. I'm in the market for a new iPad and want them to announce one damnit!
They are not releasing a new iPad without an event. They never have. Its a leg of their 3-legged chair. A small Mac spec bump, sure, but not an updated iPad.
For the 4th time! No final today! There needs to be one more build to remove the beta numbering!
As long as there is a 5 and a small letter in the build number, its not going to be a final.
14E5277a
But you must also keep in mind that even Beta 3, Beta 2 of 10.2.1 had the same series of characters. The final beta 4 was no different from the previous betas in its naming.
Thanks to @dreadlord
Explanation of iOS build numbers
14 = Major version. Here it says it is an iOS 10 build. '13' means iOS 9 so on so forth.
E = Minor version. First major version starts with 'A' which is x.0 launch release. iOS 10 (14A403). It is not necessary to be a 10.x point release to increment this it may be 10.x.x release. Usually Apple increment this when kernel version changes.
5 = It means that this build is not prepared for public release. Builds have this in build number will not release as stable build.
269 = Actual build number. It means that it is the 269th build of iOS 10.3. There may be a lot of code changes. Generally Apple has a new build everyday. And Apple tests these builds 1 week before releasing it. So, 14E269a went to Apple test team last week to test if there is a major bug. If there is see the next:
a = Revision letter. If Apple test team find bugs, they sends a report to engineering team. Engineering team tries to fix some of them and increments the revision letter. It looks like test team hasn't found any bugs to be fixed before releasing it. So, Apple released to us.
So what can we understand from today's beta?
The build number has '5' before the actual build number. Hence, this is not the build we will see when Apple releases iOS 10.3 stable. I personally expect one more beta, but it may have '5' before the actual build number. Last beta of the iOS 9.3 release is iOS 9.3 beta 7 and its build number is 13E5234a, public release iOS 9.3 build number is 13E234. It means that Apple hasn't prepared beta 7 build as final release but it looked promising, so they released it as it was.
See?
iOS 9.3 beta 7 = 13E5234a
iOS 9.3 final = 13E234
We do not know if final release is same as beta 7. Actual build numbers are same but revision letter may be 'b' instead of 'a'. But very minor thing changes in revisions.
Can revision letter say how good build is?
Well... I think, yes. Take a look at iOS 10.3 betas:
iOS 10.0 beta 1: 14A5261v
Do you see 'v'? Yes, Apple has a, b, c, ... v revision builds before releasing the first beta of iOS 10 to fix some minor bugs before introducing shiny iOS 10 to us.
iOS 10.3 beta 1: 14E5230e
iOS 10.3 beta 2: 14E5239e
iOS 10.3 beta 3: 14E5249d
iOS 10.3 beta 4: 14E5260b
iOS 10.3 beta 5: 14E5269a
It can be clearly seen Apple test team found less and less bugs and reported to engineering team. As result revision letter comes close to 'a' (finally we see 'a') as final release approaches.
One last note, revisions generally happen in 1 or 2 day(s). It is pointless to spend much time in one build, because they have a new one already. I mentioned that Apple sends builds to test team 1 week before. So, when test team sent the report of 14E5269a, engineering team probably was working on 14E5272a. Moreover, iOS 10.3 is not the only branch they are working on. They are working on iOS 10.3, iOS 10.4, iOS 10.4.1 and iOS 11 at the same time. So, it is very complicated actually.
What's next?
I expect one more build as:
iOS 10.3 beta 6: 14E5275a
iOS 10.3 final : 14E275/14E276
How do I know these?
I am a software engineer Most companies use build systems like Apple does, and the logic is same. For example,
Latest Google Chrome release: 56.0.2924.87
56 = Major
0 = Internal version. It has no purpose.
2924 = Minor
87 = Revision
I hope I've explained the build number thing as clear as I could.
[doublepost=1490026537][/doublepost]
Look at all 10.2.1 betas. None had a 5 or a small letter. Meaning they were all potentially final releases.
Explanation of iOS build numbers
14 = Major version. Here it says it is an iOS 10 build. '13' means iOS 9 so on so forth.
E = Minor version. First major version starts with 'A' which is x.0 launch release. iOS 10 (14A403). It is not necessary to be a 10.x point release to increment this it may be 10.x.x release. Usually Apple increment this when kernel version changes.
5 = It means that this build is not prepared for public release. Builds have this in build number will not release as stable build.
269 = Actual build number. It means that it is the 269th build of iOS 10.3. There may be a lot of code changes. Generally Apple has a new build everyday. And Apple tests these builds 1 week before releasing it. So, 14E269a went to Apple test team last week to test if there is a major bug. If there is see the next:
a = Revision letter. If Apple test team find bugs, they sends a report to engineering team. Engineering team tries to fix some of them and increments the revision letter. It looks like test team hasn't found any bugs to be fixed before releasing it. So, Apple released to us.
So what can we understand from today's beta?
The build number has '5' before the actual build number. Hence, this is not the build we will see when Apple releases iOS 10.3 stable. I personally expect one more beta, but it may have '5' before the actual build number. Last beta of the iOS 9.3 release is iOS 9.3 beta 7 and its build number is 13E5234a, public release iOS 9.3 build number is 13E234. It means that Apple hasn't prepared beta 7 build as final release but it looked promising, so they released it as it was.
See?
iOS 9.3 beta 7 = 13E5234a
iOS 9.3 final = 13E234
We do not know if final release is same as beta 7. Actual build numbers are same but revision letter may be 'b' instead of 'a'. But very minor thing changes in revisions.
Can revision letter say how good build is?
Well... I think, yes. Take a look at iOS 10.3 betas:
iOS 10.0 beta 1: 14A5261v
Do you see 'v'? Yes, Apple has a, b, c, ... v revision builds before releasing the first beta of iOS 10 to fix some minor bugs before introducing shiny iOS 10 to us.
iOS 10.3 beta 1: 14E5230e
iOS 10.3 beta 2: 14E5239e
iOS 10.3 beta 3: 14E5249d
iOS 10.3 beta 4: 14E5260b
iOS 10.3 beta 5: 14E5269a
It can be clearly seen Apple test team found less and less bugs and reported to engineering team. As result revision letter comes close to 'a' (finally we see 'a') as final release approaches.
One last note, revisions generally happen in 1 or 2 day(s). It is pointless to spend much time in one build, because they have a new one already. I mentioned that Apple sends builds to test team 1 week before. So, when test team sent the report of 14E5269a, engineering team probably was working on 14E5272a. Moreover, iOS 10.3 is not the only branch they are working on. They are working on iOS 10.3, iOS 10.4, iOS 10.4.1 and iOS 11 at the same time. So, it is very complicated actually.
What's next?
I expect one more build as:
iOS 10.3 beta 6: 14E5275a
iOS 10.3 final : 14E275/14E276
How do I know these?
I am a software engineer
Most companies use build systems like Apple does, and the logic is same. For example,Latest Google Chrome release: 56.0.2924.87
56 = Major
0 = Internal version. It has no purpose.
2924 = Minor
87 = Revision
I hope I've explained the build number thing as clear as I could.
[doublepost=1490026537][/doublepost]
Look at all 10.2.1 betas. None had a 5 or a small letter. Meaning they were all potentially final releases.
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/03/20/apple-online-store-down-march-21/
So I'm expecting the final either today or tomorrow (more likely).
So I'm expecting the final either today or tomorrow (more likely).
Why? Because there is maintenance? Because Apple has never been down for maintenance without new products being announced? This makes no difference. We will not see new iPads without an event. It has never happened. Its a 'flagship' product.
Mostly because iOS 10.3 seems to be stabe enough now and without March event I don't see point in delaying the release.
The difference is there was an event. Beta 7 of 9.3 was a beta build number. After the event, there was a public release build number.
[doublepost=1490027409][/doublepost]
There were rumors of an early April event. It still does not change the fact that 10.3B7 build number is a beta build number. Apple this year, has consistently released the public release to beta testers first. Therefore, it can't have a beta build number.
