The upcoming macOS 26 Tahoe is the last upgrade that will be compatible with Macs running Intel processors, Apple revealed at WWDC on Monday. The company continued to make OS upgrades for computers running those chips many years after the release of the last one, but that’s coming to an end in 2026.
It’s the end of the line for Intel Macs and macOS updates
The last macOS models running an Intel chip launched in 2020, and Apple announced the Mac’s transition from Intel to Apple silicon that same year. The last Intel-based MacBooks were discontinued in 2021. By 2023, the sole remaining Intel-based computer still in Apple’s lineup was the Mac Pro from 2019, and it got the axe when a model with a M-series processor launched at WWDC that year.
Nevertheless, Apple continued to make each successive macOS version backward compatible with Intel Macs. That’s also true of macOS 26 Tahoe, which was unveiled at WWDC on Monday. But that practice ends in 2026. And it’s not a rumor or leak, but an official statement by an Apple executive.
Speaking at the WWDC25 Platforms State of the Union, Matthew Firik, Apple’s Senior Director, Developer Relations, told third-party app developers, “We completed the transition to Apple Silicon across our entire product lineup two years ago, so your apps can now depend on and build upon these features, too. Apple silicon enables us all to achieve things that were previously unimaginable, and it’s time to put all over our focus and innovation there. And so, macOS Tahoe will be the final release for Intel Macs.”
These devices won’t be compatible with the operating system version released in 2026… which will apparently be named macOS 27 under Apple’s new naming system. On the other side of the coin, it’s likely that every Mac running an M-series processor will be able to run next year’s version, including the models that came out in 2020.
