What is the difference between System Updates and System Upgrades?

A System Update is a free and regular download that adds minor system enhancements and repairs features that aren’t functioning properly. They are released to improve system performance, give support for new models, and fix bugs in a system. Security updates are common system updates issued to safeguard the system against vulnerabilities and gaps that may be exploited by viruses and hackers. The rightmost number in the version changes during an update, for example, from 2.1.0 to 2.1.1. Updates are small in size, free of cost, and take less time to perform compared to upgrades.

A System Upgrade is the most recent version of a system that delivers significant improvements and changes over the current version. User Interface, functionality, and current appearance changes with the new system upgrades. It mainly focuses on bringing new features, which are not there in the current versions. Upgrades don’t occur regularly, as developing and adding new features takes time. While ‘updates’ just modify the existing system, upgrades replace it with a better version, and hence they are likely to be charged. During an upgrade, the leftmost number in the version changes, for instance, 2.0 to 3.0, or the version names associated with them, like macOS Mojave changes to Big Sur.