| Version of the macOS operating system | |
 | |
 macOS Big Sur's desktop in "light appearance" | |
| Developer | Apple |
|---|---|
| OS family | |
| Source model | Closed, with open source components |
| General availability | November 12, 2020[1] |
| Latest release | 11.7.10 (20G1427)[2] (September 11, 2023) [±] |
| Update method | Software Update |
| Platforms | x86-64, ARM64[3] |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
| License | Proprietary software with open-source components |
| Preceded by | macOS Catalina |
| Succeeded by | macOS Monterey |
| Official website | www.apple.com/macos/big-sur at the Wayback Machine (archived 2021-10-18) |
| Tagline | Doing it all, in new ways. |
| Support status | |
| Unsupported as of September 26, 2023. Finder is still able to download driver updates to sync to newer devices. Drops support for Macs released from 2012 to early 2013. | |
| Part of a series on |
| macOS |
|---|
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020,[4] and was released to the public on November 12, 2020.[5][4][6]
Big Sur is the successor to macOS Catalina (macOS 10.15). The release of Big Sur was the first time the major version number of the operating system had been incremented since the Mac OS X Public Beta in 2000. After sixteen distinct versions of macOS 10 ("Mac OS X"), macOS Big Sur was presented as version 11 in 2020, and every subsequent version has also incremented the major version number, similarly to Classic Mac OS and to iOS and Apple's other current OSes.
For the first time since OS X Yosemite 6 years earlier, macOS Big Sur features a user interface redesign. It features new blurs to establish a visual hierarchy, along with making icons more square and UI elements more consistent. Other changes include a revamp of the Time Machine backup mechanism, the control center from iOS 7, among other things. It is also the first macOS version to support Macs with ARM-based processors. To mark the transition, the operating system's major version number was incremented, for the first time since 2001, from 10 to 11.[7][8] The operating system is named after the coastal region of Big Sur in the Central Coast of California, continuing the naming trend of California locations that began with OS X Mavericks.
macOS Big Sur is the final version of macOS that supports Macs with Nvidia graphics cards, specifically the 15-inch dual graphics late 2013 and mid 2014 MacBook Pro models, as its successor, macOS Monterey, drops support for those models.
- ^ Rossignol, Joe (November 10, 2020). "Apple Releasing macOS Big Sur on November 12". MacRumors. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ Owen, Malcolm (September 11, 2023). "Apple issues updates for iOS 15.7.9, iPadOS 15.7.9, macOS Monterey 12.6.9, Big Sur 11.7.10". Apple Insider. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
- ^ Etherington, Darrell (June 22, 2020). "Apple is releasing a Mac mini with an Apple processor for developers starting this week". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ a b Heater, Brian (June 22, 2020). "Apple unveils macOS 11.0 Big Sur". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ "Apple introduces macOS Big Sur with a beautiful new design" (Press release). Apple Inc. June 22, 2020. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ Carman, Ashley (November 10, 2020). "Apple announces macOS Big Sur release date". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ Rossignol, Joe (June 22, 2020). "macOS Big Sur Listed as 'Version 11.0' in System Preferences". MacRumors. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Gruber, John (June 24, 2020). "The Talk Show Remote from WWDC 2020, With Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak". Daring Fireball. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.