The support list for macOS Tahoe still includes Intel Macs, but it has been whittled down to just four models, all released in 2019 or 2020.
We speculated that this meant that the end was near for Intel Macs, and now we can confirm just how near it is: macOS Tahoe will be the last new macOS release to support any Intel Macs.
Apple is also planning changes to Rosetta 2, the Intel-to-Arm app translation technology created to ease the transition between the Intel and Apple Silicon eras.
It was inevitable that Apple would eventually stop supporting Intel Macs, but some models have been dropped more aggressively than others.
The Mac mini fares even worse; while the Mac Pro will run macOS Tahoe, last year’s macOS 15 Sequoia was the end of the line for the 2018 Mac mini.
Intel Macs are still supported by macOS Tahoe, but the list has been reduced to just four models, all of which were released in 2019 or 2020. Since macOS Tahoe will be the final macOS release to support any Intel Macs, we can now corroborate our suspicions that the end of Intel Macs is imminent. An Apple Silicon Mac is required for all new releases beginning with macOS 27.
Tahoe will receive more security updates from Apple until the fall of 2028, two years after macOS 27 replaces it. Generally speaking, older macOS versions receive two years of security-only updates to keep them patched but without adding major new features, after which they all receive a year of major point updates that include security fixes and new features.
Additionally, Rosetta 2, the Intel-to-Arm app translation technology designed to facilitate the transition between the Intel and Apple Silicon eras, is undergoing modifications by Apple. Under macOS 26 and macOS 27, Rosetta will remain a general-purpose app translation tool.
Rosetta will then be reduced in scope and made available to a select group of apps, namely older games that depend on Intel-specific libraries but are no longer being actively maintained by their developers. Developers will have to switch to either Apple Silicon-native apps or universal apps that run on either architecture if they want their apps to stay running on macOS after that.
Apple adopted a similar strategy to the original Rosetta technology, which was developed in the mid-2000s to facilitate the switch from PowerPC chips to Intel CPUs. In 2011, approximately five years after the first Intel Macs were released, Rosetta was eliminated from Mac OS X version 10.7, although it was still available in versions 10.4, 10.5, and 10.6.
Although Apple would eventually cease to support Intel Macs, some models have been discontinued more quickly than others. The 2019 Intel Mac Pro and some 2018 Intel Mac mini models were still available until well into 2023, even though the majority of Intel Macs were replaced by newer Apple Silicon models in 2020 or 2021. Those who purchased one of those expensive Mac Pros in that year would have only received three new macOS updates and five years of security updates. Even worse is the situation with the Mac mini; last year’s macOS 15 Sequoia was the last version of the 2018 Mac mini, whereas the Mac Pro will run macOS Tahoe.
