macOS 11.1/12 and Intel supported devices predictions

[mactinkerlover]

Okay, so I'm wondering what y'alls predictions are about the supported devices in next years mac os? Do y'all think they'll go to mac os 12 or 11.1? I personally think they'll go to 11.1 and I think these devices will be supported:

• 2015 and later MacBook.
• 2014 and later MacBook Air.
• 2014 and later MacBook Pro.
• 2014 and later iMac.
• 2017 and later iMac Pro.
• 2014 and later Mac mini.
• 2019 and later Mac Pro

As you can see, I expect them to drop support for all of the 2013 macs for the next version of macos. Of course, it's all arbitrary cause apple certainly could support the 2013s for another year, but they're apple, so of course they're going to drop support for no reason (even though say the 2013 and 2014 macbook pros are very similar). In fact, I actually thought the 2013s weren't going to be supported under Big Sur, but my opinion is apple supported them for one more year because of COVID 19 (with the exception of the 2013 mac pro, I was sure that was going to get 1 more year under Big Sur). Again, it's all someone at apple who just comes up with an arbitrary list of supported macs.

Okay, and I think after next years mac os, for 11.2 or 13 (again, whatever apple decides to go with), this will the support list, and will probably remain the same until Intel gets dropped completely in the end of 2024 with 11.4 and 15:

• 2017 and later MacBook.
• 2018 and later MacBook Air.
• 2016 and later MacBook Pro.
• 2017 and later iMac.
• 2017 and later iMac Pro.
• 2018 and later Mac mini.
• 2019 and later Mac Pro

Like I said, I think that apple will support Intel until the end of 2024 based on their track record. If we look back at the PowerPC to Intel transition, the intel transition happened and finished in 2006. The newest os at the time was Tiger. Then about a year later Leopard came out and was the last to support PowerPC. So based on this, we can assume that Intel will get 1 or 2 more OSes after the transition finishes, which would probably be end of 2022, so it Intel would get the OS that comes out at the end of 2023, but not the one that comes out at the end of 2024. However, I'm sure they would still 2 years of security updates on whatever OS they were stuck on.

Feel free to respond with what you think of all of this and with y'alls opinion on what will happen with mac os support over the next few years. There had been fourms like this started the last couple of years, and there wasn't one started this year so I figured why not I start it?

 

[frou]

From a technical perspective, it would be neat and tidy if at some point the only supported Intel Macs were those with T2 chips, since the boot process is totally different on those.

But indeed there's no point thinking about support windows purely in terms of technical capabilities, because that's not how Apple does (for good and bad).

 

[honestone33]

Regarding the designation for the next version of the mac OS, hopefully Apple will go with V12.x. To me, it's cleaner and easier to remember.

 

[casperes1996]

Regarding the designation for the next version of the mac OS, hopefully Apple will go with V12.x. To me, it's cleaner and easier to remember.

It will definitely, 100% be 12. 11.1 will be the first bigger update to Big Sur, 12 will be macOS Redwood (hoping). The move to 11 was in part to unify the version numbering systems a little across all Apple devices, where the first number represents the major release number, and not just always version 10 like we've had the past 20 years

 

[frou]

It will definitely, 100% be 12. 11.1 will be the first bigger update to Big Sur, 12 will be macOS Redwood (hoping). The move to 11 was in part to unify the version numbering systems a little across all Apple devices

The funny thing about this outcome is that to a casual observer, it will seem like macOS is a younger operating system than iOS. They could have started its new life at 16 just to set the record straight!

 

[casperes1996]

The funny thing about this outcome is that to a casual observer, it will seem like macOS is a younger operating system than iOS. They could have started its new life at 16 just to set the record straight!

They could, but I think that would not respect the heritage of OS X as well as this. I’m honestly also not sure it really matters if someone who doesn’t know Macs have been around for ages thinking it’s a couple years newer than iOS. If they pay little enough attention to not care about the Mac’s legacy, they probably just doesn’t care about the version number anyway, don’t you think?

 

[rkuo]

You are missing a big point here, which is that it matters more when Apple stops selling a device, not just when they start selling it. The Mac Pro 2013 was sold up until December 2019 ... I don’t see a scenario where Apple drops support for a computer they sold after less than two years.

 

[mactinkerlover]

You are missing a big point here, which is that it matters more when Apple stops selling a device, not just when they start selling it. The Mac Pro 2013 was sold up until December 2019 ... I don’t see a scenario where Apple drops support for a computer they sold after less than two years.

Yeah, but apple does it by model year, not by when they last sold it. For example, the mid 2012 13 inch unibody macbook pro was sold up to until October 2016, yet that was dropped on Big Sur. So I see why apple could definitely drop support for the 2013 Mac Pro next year. Remember, it's all arbitrary, and theres no system to it, just drop support for the older model years no matter the hardware or how long they were sold for. Then again, this is all just my opinion based on Apple and what I've seen them do in the past.