Apple has officially unveiled macOS Golden Gate, and there’s one major change Mac owners need to know about: Intel support is finally over.
The new operating system, announced during WWDC 2026, only works on Apple silicon Macs. This marks the end of the road for Intel-powered machines. Previously, Apple had already warned that macOS Tahoe would be the final release to support Intel hardware. Now Golden Gate makes that transition official.
The good news is that most Apple silicon Macs are supported. macOS Golden Gate will run on every Apple silicon MacBook Air and MacBook Pro released since 2020. It will also run on the iMac from 2021 onwards, the Mac mini from 2020 onwards, the Mac Studio from 2022 onwards and the Mac Pro introduced in 2023. Additionally, Apple’s new MacBook Neo is also on the compatibility list.
The bigger story, however, is what has been left behind. Four Intel-powered Macs that supported macOS Tahoe won’t make the jump to Golden Gate. These include the 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2019, the four-port 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2020, the 2020 iMac and the 2019 Mac Pro.
While that might be disappointing for owners of those machines, it’s not quite the end of support. Apple typically continues issuing security updates for the previous version of macOS after a new release arrives. Therefore, Tahoe users should still receive important fixes and protections for some time.
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That said, Golden Gate’s new features will be exclusive to Apple silicon hardware going forward. The move isn’t entirely surprising given Apple’s transition away from Intel began nearly six years ago. Nevertheless, it does close the chapter on an era. That era included some of the company’s most popular MacBook Pro and iMac models.
For anyone still holding onto an Intel Mac, Golden Gate is effectively Apple’s clearest signal yet. It means it’s time to start thinking about an upgrade.

