macOS Tahoe 26 is the last version for Intel-powered Macs and only some are supported

The new macOS Tahoe 26 is part of Apple’s push for a unified UI, but some Mac owners will not get to experience it as Tahoe drops support for certain Intel-powered Macs. And while some Intel-powered Macs will get Tahoe, this is the last macOS version that they will receive.

When macOS Sequoia was unveiled last year, it dropped support for 2018 MacBook Airs, but 2020 ones (with 10th gen Intel CPUs) were still able to update. Come next year, only Apple Silicon Macs will be getting updated.

Above is the list of which Macs are getting updated to Tahoe 26 – all Apple Silicon Macs, plus some Intel-powered ones. But Apple’s weird naming scheme requires some clarification as it can be hard to figure out which model is which.

Here is a table that shows the difference between last year’s Sequoia and this year’s Tahoe:

Let’s try to clear things up – 2020 MacBook Airs with Intel CPUs cannot be updated, only Apple-powered Airs get Tahoe. Intel-powered Mac minis also lose support (the last one was the 2018 model, from 2020 onward they use Apple M chips). The iMac Pro (which never got an Apple Silicon refresh) is also staying behind on Sequoia. However, iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) with 10th gen Core i5, i7 and i9 can be updated to Tahoe.

The MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) with Intel Core i7 and i9 as well as the MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports) (yes, that is the model name) with 10th gen Core i5 and i7 also get macOS Tahoe 26. However, older MacBook Pros are out of luck. Their successors will soon join them – again, Tahoe is the last macOS for Intel-powered Macs.

Note that while they will no longer receive major OS updates, the Intel-powered Macs on Tahoe will still get security patches for three more years. This will give users more time to update their computers.

Apple is moving away from x86 in general. Next year’s macOS 27 will still include Rosetta 2 – that is the translation system that runs x86 software on Apple’s new ARM processors. Going forward, the plan is to keep Rosetta as a compatibility layer for legacy video games, but Apple is encouraging developers to transition to ARM for their Mac software.

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