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When/how will Big Sur be released?

  • Announced at the October 13th Event; Available to download shortly thereafter

    Votes: 21 9.4%
  • Announced at the October 13th Event alongside an Apple Silicon Mac; Available shortly thereafter

    Votes: 5 2.2%
  • Announced at a November Event, give or take alongside Apple Silicon Macs; Available shortly after

    Votes: 198 88.4%

  • Total voters
    224
It's 6am in California, if Big Sur were to be released today, it wouldn't happen for several hours, and certainly not before the iPhone presentation at 10am Pacific time.
Now almost 1 PM in California and up here in Washington. But as I mentioned in a prior post, a more reasonable expected timeframe for the first version of Big Sur, OS 11.0, to be released is the last week of October, give or take a few days. That "prediction" is mainly based what I have read about the testing with the Big Sur betas. Still, even if it happens then, still not all my third party applications (some VERY critical) are compatible with Big Sur. As as history has shown, the first 2 or 3 versions of the mac OS will have bugs.
 

Ansath

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Jun 9, 2018
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If we are getting Beta 10, then that will be tomorrow or Thursday. If we don't get Beta 10 this week, then the current beta is likely the last build, which will become GM.

The GM will come after the event for the Silicon Macs, with official release coming out 2 days before the new Macs are in peoples hands.
 

ghboard2010

macrumors regular
Aug 7, 2010
169
97
Somewhere
But one would think picking a date is based on some facts, not just "plucking" something out of the air.

If that were the case, I'm sure people would laugh at me if I said December 25th (Christmas Day). And that would be based on nothing at all.
Christmas Day sounds good to me, I like Christmas presents!😀
 

jaredwsmith

macrumors regular
Nov 1, 2015
104
147
Charleston, SC
I think we can look to the iOS 14.2 beta cycle for some helpful guidance here.

For iOS, I have observed that the typical Apple cadence for point releases is four betas and then final release. Given that beta 3 dropped today, I'd expect beta 4 of iOS 14.2 next week, followed by a public release somewhere in the October 26-28 timeframe.

Now, it's worth noting that a recent beta -- I believe beta 8 -- of Big Sur added the Emoji 13.0 characters, like what will ship in 14.2. Thus, I suspect that we see beta 10 of Big Sur sometime tomorrow or Thursday, followed by a GM the following week. I suspect the macOS team will not drop Big Sur with one day's notice for developers this go around :), so I would predict a final Big Sur release to ride along with 14.2 in that October 26-28 timeframe.

I offer this speculation based purely on pattern recognition, with no insider information, and could be very, very wrong. :)
 

DimaVR

Suspended
Nov 14, 2017
1,146
479
So last year I think we had Catalina Beta 10 and than GM!

I am pretty stable at beta 9 but trust me in the next48 hours we will have beta 10 this week and in 2 weeks we will have GM
 

Ansath

Cancelled
Jun 9, 2018
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Now, it's worth noting that a recent beta -- I believe beta 8 -- of Big Sur added the Emoji 13.0 characters, like what will ship in 14.2. Thus, I suspect that we see beta 10 of Big Sur sometime tomorrow or Thursday, followed by a GM the following week. I suspect the macOS team will not drop Big Sur with one day's notice for developers this go around :), so I would predict a final Big Sur release to ride along with 14.2 in that October 26-28 timeframe.

iOS 14.1 is looking like it’s going to be out next Wednesday/Tuesday just in time cut the new phones to be out. So by your reckoning a week later we will get 14.2? No chance. 14.2 has at least 1 more Beta in it, which will come in 2 weeks, likely.

iOS 14.2 is more likely mid November. Around the same time we are expecting to see ARM macs. Makes more sense for Big Sur to come out then.
 

Ansath

Cancelled
Jun 9, 2018
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So last year I think we had Catalina Beta 10 and than GM!

I am pretty stable at beta 9 but trust me in the next48 hours we will have beta 10 this week and in 2 weeks we will have GM

Just because there were 10 last year, doesn’t guarantee there will be this year. Maybe it doesn’t need a beta and it’sGM internally already. GM will come out for when they want, which can be 4 weeks or more after the last build the developers get.
 
Now, it's worth noting that a recent beta -- I believe beta 8 -- of Big Sur added the Emoji 13.0 characters, like what will ship in 14.2. Thus, I suspect that we see beta 10 of Big Sur sometime tomorrow or Thursday, followed by a GM the following week. I suspect the macOS team will not drop Big Sur with one day's notice for developers this go around :), so I would predict a final Big Sur release to ride along with 14.2 in that October 26-28 timeframe.

I offer this speculation based purely on pattern recognition, with no insider information, and could be very, very wrong. :)
That timeframe agrees with my "prediction" of the last week in October. But now some folks are saying Big Sur will be released sometime in November, to correspond with Apple's "Silicon Event". That could be valid.
 
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ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
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If we are getting Beta 10, then that will be tomorrow or Thursday. If we don't get Beta 10 this week, then the current beta is likely the last build, which will become GM.

The GM will come after the event for the Silicon Macs, with official release coming out 2 days before the new Macs are in peoples hands.


1st ARM Mac will ship with 11.0.1
 

Ansath

Cancelled
Jun 9, 2018
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1st ARM Mac will ship with 11.0.1

Timing doesn't really make sense. Why release Big Sur in the middle of nowhere, when they can release GM after the Silicon Mac event in a month.

One indicator that will help with when it will come out, is if we get Beta 10 today/tomorrow. If so, then it's more likely the GM will come with the event in 3-4 weeks.
 

Ansath

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Jun 9, 2018
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That timeframe agrees with my "prediction" of the last week in October. But now some folks are saying Big Sur will be released sometime in November, to correspond with Apple's "Silicon Event". That could be valid.

Many people, including people with good track record have always said with the event for the Silicon Macs. They were only saying October when it was thought that the Silicon Macs were going to be part of the iPhone event, due to a misunderstanding of what one of the people were saying.
 

robotica

macrumors 65816
Jul 10, 2007
1,256
1,412
Edinburgh
It would be nice to have the gm out before the event so they can release it for consumers at the event itself.
 

ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
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Timing doesn't really make sense. Why release Big Sur in the middle of nowhere, when they can release GM after the Silicon Mac event in a month.

Don’t want to sound bossy, but as someone who has been beta testing on-off for 21 years I can’t understand what you’re saying.

GMs drop for developers before an OS is released to the public so that developers can finalise bug fixing and app updates. In the past, GMs have dropped up to two weeks before the OS is released. There was even one occasion when a second GM came out because the first one needed a major bug fixed.

So a GM would have to drop before ARM Macs are released if they have Big Sur preinstalled. It’s not dropping in the middle of nowhere, there are plenty of Intel Macs to upgrade and maybe a few more new Intel Macs to come.
 

KoolAid-Drink

macrumors 68000
Sep 18, 2013
1,859
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USA
Depends if they go with the classic macOS versioning or iOS style versioning. Minor updates get a 11.0.1 version. Bigger updates go to 11.1.
Which versioning do you suspect Apple will use? I think they'll do 11.1, 11.2, and so forth for a year, then version 12 for next year; following the iOS versioning scheme.
 

ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
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Which versioning do you suspect Apple will use? I think they'll do 11.1, 11.2, and so forth for a year, then version 12 for next year; following the iOS versioning scheme.

Because macOS has been gradually moving away from the Mac OS X (ten) branding, I think we should see iOS style versioning from now on. So next year will be macOS 12, in 2022 it will be macOS 13, and so on.

It’s much cleaner that way and Apple should have done it since Yosemite when they dropped the X.
 

Ansath

Cancelled
Jun 9, 2018
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Don’t want to sound bossy, but as someone who has been beta testing on-off for 21 years I can’t understand what you’re saying.

GMs drop for developers before an OS is released to the public so that developers can finalise bug fixing and app updates. In the past, GMs have dropped up to two weeks before the OS is released. There was even one occasion when a second GM came out because the first one needed a major bug fixed.

So a GM would have to drop before ARM Macs are released if they have Big Sur preinstalled. It’s not dropping in the middle of nowhere, there are plenty of Intel Macs to upgrade and maybe a few more new Intel Macs to come.

Apple have an intended date for GM and public release. They always have.

You totally misrepresented my post, so you really did mean what you said that you don't understand. I said GM would be released after the event. I never said it would be when the new devices were out.

So, let me make it clearer for you as to what I mean, rather than you putting words into my mouth. I said GM releases after event finishes. As in event finishes, then couple hours later, GM releases. New devices pre-order the Friday of that week, the following week the public release comes out (maybe the Wednesday) and new Macs available the Friday after that.

As for you saying 'In the past GMs have dropped up to 2 weeks before the OS is released'. That's not totally true.... Look at Catalina, that had GM on October 4th 2019, then public release October 7th, that doesn't look like 2 weeks to me...........
 

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,702
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As for you saying 'In the past GMs have dropped up to 2 weeks before the OS is released'. That's not totally true.... Look at Catalina, that had GM on October 4th 2019, then public release October 7th, that doesn't look like 2 weeks to me...........
You've missed the "up to two weeks" part of that statement.
 

ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
1,281
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I said GM releases after event finishes.

You’re saying that Big Sur has to come out with ARM, but there are millions of Intel Macs already out there to upgrade to Big Sur.

It’s possible Apple could wait, but it won’t be because of ARM. It would be because they have bugs to fix for Intel and ARM. The GM could drop today if there’s no show stopping bugs that could be fixed in 11.0.1



As for you saying 'In the past GMs have dropped up to 2 weeks before the OS is released'. That's not totally true.... Look at Catalina, that had GM on October 4th 2019, then public release October 7th, that doesn't look like 2 weeks to me...........

You can look back to 2019. I can look back all the way to 1999. The GM has in the past come out up to 2 weeks before release to public. Sometimes even longer. Tiger GM was March 31st and the public release was a month later on April 29th.

In case you’re a noob, GM used to be the the release that went towards writing installer CDs and DVDs (hence the name refers to mastering discs), that’s why the GM used to drop quite early - to see if there were any problems with the GM before it went to press.

Even in recent years Yosemite and Sierra had a second GM.



Anyway I’m bored with this discussion if people post their own version of macOS history.
 
Many people, including people with good track record have always said with the event for the Silicon Macs. They were only saying October when it was thought that the Silicon Macs were going to be part of the iPhone event, due to a misunderstanding of what one of the people were saying.
Understand. I myself typically do not participate in these prediction games, especially for a mac OS. But when I previously stated the last week of October, that was based on what I have been reading about experiences with the betas. However, I recently "modified" my prediction regarding the Silicon Mac event. That seems more reasonable.
 

Ansath

Cancelled
Jun 9, 2018
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You’re saying that Big Sur has to come out with ARM, but there are millions of Intel Macs already out there to upgrade to Big Sur.

No, again you are determined to mis-represent what I am saying!! I said it comes out BEFORE the ARM device release (Big Sur release on the Wednesday/Thursday - This is so the current devices can download and install before the new Macs come out on the Friday), also we could get new Intel Macs coming next month too, as Apple did say there's a transition period of a couple years.


It’s possible Apple could wait, but it won’t be because of ARM. It would be because they have bugs to fix for Intel and ARM. The GM could drop today if there’s no show stopping bugs that could be fixed in 11.0.1

You really are oblivious to the modern Apple way of doing things. Apple won't drop a GM today, these days, if they are intending to release to public in mid November. They mop up any bugs in a 11.0.1 release the week after the public release & new devices.

You can look back to 2019. I can look back all the way to 1999. The GM has in the past come out up to 2 weeks before release to public. Sometimes even longer. Tiger GM was March 31st and the public release was a month later on April 29th.

In case you’re a noob, GM used to be the the release that went towards writing installer CDs and DVDs (hence the name refers to mastering discs), that’s why the GM used to drop quite early - to see if there were any problems with the GM before it went to press.

No point looking at ancient history, more recent is more relevant. I'm not a noob (I know what GM means), I just have a more modern mindset than you appear to do. In this day and age, there is no reason for a big gap with GM. Look at iOS GMs, they did 24 hour gap for 14.0, but usually they give a week, Apple are trending this way for MacOS releases too.


Even in recent years Yosemite and Sierra had a second GM.

Those were rocky betas, Big Sur has been fairly decent in comparison.

Anyway I’m bored with this discussion if people post their own version of macOS history.

Awww a bitter sign off there. Cheer up grandad. :)
 
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