At the WWDC 2025 Developer Conference, Apple has confirmed that macOS 26 will be the final version of Mac devices equipped with Intel processors. Starting from macOS 27, Apple will no longer provide major software update support for these devices. However, Apple will continue to provide necessary security updates to these devices so that users can continue to improve system security through security updates.
Apple is about to hold the WWDC 2026 Developer Conference and announce macOS 27. This system only supports devices equipped with Apple's M series chips (including MacBook Neo equipped with A series chips). After completing the test, macOS 27 will be released as an official version in September 2026. By then, Mac devices using Intel processors will no longer be able to upgrade.
Devices that cannot be upgraded include:
13-inch MacBook Pro released in 2020 (with 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports)
iMac released in 2020
16-inch MacBook Pro released in 2019
Mac Pro released in 2019
The above devices all support macOS 26.x but no longer support upgrading to macOS 27.x
Existing M-chip devices are expected to be upgradeable:
There is no definite news yet about which devices macOS 27 supports, but considering chip compatibility, devices equipped with Apple M chips should be directly upgradeable, and macOS 27 can still continue to run applications developed for Intel processors, but starting from macOS 28 released next year, Apple will only support applications developed for Apple M.
This is because macOS 27 still contains the Rosetta compatibility layer. Apple says that this compatibility layer was originally designed to simplify the transition from Intel chips to M chips. Now that the transition is basically complete, Apple will not provide complete compatibility in macOS 28. However, Apple still considers retaining some functions of the compatibility layer so that users can run old games developed based on Intel processors but that have completely stopped maintaining.