macOS 26 Rumored to Drop Support for These Five Macs

[MacRumors]

The next major version of macOS, now dubbed "macOS 26," is rumored to drop support for several older Intel-based Mac models currently compatible with macOS Sequoia.

According to individuals familiar with the matter cited by AppleInsider, the following Macs will not be supported by the next version of macOS:

• MacBook Pro (2018)
• iMac (2019)
• iMac Pro (2017)
• Mac mini (2018)
• MacBook Air (2020, Intel-based)

These Macs were the oldest supported by macOS Sequoia, and their omission in development builds suggests they are likely to be excluded from macOS 26's official compatibility list.

This would mark the second consecutive year that Apple has narrowed support for Intel-based Macs, while continuing to deliver the full feature set primarily to Apple Silicon devices. macOS 26's compatibility list is expected to be as follows:

• MacBook Pro (2019 and later)
• iMac (2020 and later)
• Mac Pro (2019 and later)
• Mac mini (M1 and later)
• Mac Studio (all models)
• MacBook Air (M1 and later)

macOS 26's first developer beta is expected to exceed 17GB in size—approximately 2GB larger than the initial beta of macOS Sequoia. The update is expected to borrow heavily from the design language of visionOS with 3D translucent materials and rounded window elements. The design changes are said to be among the most significant visual updates to macOS in years.

Apple is rumored to be shifting the naming system used by its software platforms toward consistent year-adjacent numerical titles. As a result, we are expecting the next major version of macOS to be "macOS 26" rather than "macOS 16."

macOS 26 will be officially introduced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which starts on June 9, with the first developer beta expected to be released immediately following the keynote address. Public beta testing typically follows in July, with a full public release in the fall.

Article Link: macOS 26 Rumored to Drop Support for These Five Macs

 

[abatabia]

Final year for intel support I reckon. I wonder how long before M1 gets cut off?

 

[Mactech20]

What about the 2019 iMac? No mention of dropping it from support but the supported list says 2020 and later.

 

[Fuzzball84]

Final year for intel support I reckon. I wonder how long before M1 gets cut off?

I think M1 will be dropped next year or just after that.

Apple want to push people off the first generation of M series Macs and their marketing has increasingly been targeting those people.

M1 is still super powerful but it’s impacting new Mac sales in a big way. It was just so powerful but AI and the relatively low RAM allocation in base models gives Apple an excuse to end support.

 

[iHorseHead]

Final year for intel support I reckon. I wonder how long before M1 gets cut off?

2027(?) I assume.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I think M1 will be dropped next year or just after that.

Apple want to push people off the first generation of M series Macs and their marketing has increasingly been targeting those people.

M1 is still super powerful but it’s impacting new Mac sales in a big way. It was just so powerful but AI and the relatively low RAM allocation in base models gives Apple an excuse to end support.

I think there would be huge blow-back if they went "unsupported" with M1. People know (and so does Apple) it's just as capable to run the same OS's as M2-M4. Code-wise, is there really anything that is exclusively M4-compatible because of code that won't run on M1?

 

[gank41]

Although this would be a big bummer, my 2018 Intel Mac mini seems to be in a good place at the moment.

Would be nice if they announced this as the last update for these devices, though, as opposed to just skipping them now. But maybe if they're unifying the name across the board, there's more going on under the hood that just won't allow it to happen...

 

[iHorseHead]

I think M1 will be dropped next year or just after that.

Apple want to push people off the first generation of M series Macs and their marketing has increasingly been targeting those people.

M1 is still super powerful but it’s impacting new Mac sales in a big way. It was just so powerful but AI and the relatively low RAM allocation in base models gives Apple an excuse to end support.

I'm not so sure because M1 MacBooks are still being sold…
They even sold MacBook Air 2017 back in 2020 and it was supported 2 OS upgrades from 2020.

 

[Foxglove9]

Usually get 5-6 years of updates, so probably start seeing certain M1 Mac’s excluded 2026. Fortunately Apple devices get security updates for many years after.

 

[ricketysquire]

My grievance is the lack of transparency regarding security updates. Every year we play this game, what perfectly functioning products will lose support. And then we're left to hope that Apple continues to update older OSes, and we've been fortunate that they have been mostly. I mean IOS 12 was getting a security update in 2022. But eventually they drop off. I don't care if my old device gets x new features, but if I'm using it for banking or medical or as a business, I want to be sure my device isn't vulnerable. Ideally they set expectations ahead of time, and anything extra is considered a bonus. I wish they'd say, okay every device is guaranteed X IOS full updates with new features, but once that's done they are guaranteed X years of security updates with point releases. Im worried we're going to have or already have so many vulnerable devices that are full of unpatched holes.

 

[dennis264]

Can’t wait for the year Apple accidentally skips because the OS slipped. “iOS 28 (formerly known as iOS 27, but let’s just pretend that didn’t happen)”

 

[arkitect]

Although this would be a big bummer, my 2018 Intel Mac mini seems to be in a good place at the moment.

Same here.
My 2018 Mini is doing fine on its 32GB… and since I am still on Sonoma I may not even miss the upgrade for a while.

Still… time is getting along and would like to put this little chap not out to pasture so much, but just use it as an adjunct to the latest and greatest I could afford.

It's been doing a lot of heavy lifting 24/7 since 2018. 🙂

 

[Fuzzball84]

I think there would be huge blow-back if they went "unsupported" with M1. People know (and so does Apple) it's just as capable to run the same OS's as M2-M4. Code-wise, is there really anything that is exclusively M4-compatible because of code that won't run on M1?

i think after a big blowback they would placate users with a couple year security updates

Apple want people off intel ASAP, and would like people to move off M1. It’s just hitting their bottom line too hard. I think the move to base models with 16 GB of RAM was a move to clear out a load of support for the M1 to M3 work 8 GB RAM. It’s a clear cut off strategy.

 

[gank41]

I'm not so sure because M1 MacBooks are still being sold…
They even sold MacBook Air 2017 back in 2020 and it was supported 2 OS upgrades from 2020.

Well, TBF, I bought my 2018 Intel Mac mini in 2022 or so. Still works great! So does my M1 MBP.. Not upgrading any time soon, that's for sure. And not with the prices expected to skyrocket.

 

[Fuzzball84]

Same here.
My 2018 Mini is doing fine on its 32GB… and since I am still on Sonoma I may not even miss the upgrade for a while.

Still… time is getting along and would like to put this little chap not out to pasture so much, but just as an adjunct to the latest and greatest I can afford, do a little less heavy lifting 24/7. 🙂

My Intel Mac mini is doing great but I knew they would cut it soon.

 

[adrianlondon]

My late-2013 15" MBP is running Sequoia well (via OCLP) and I think that's where it's going to stay.

It's just a backup laptop anyway, as I smashed the screen* in 2020 and replaced it with an Intel MBA. That's been passed on to family and will also stay on Sequoia it seems!.

My current laptop is a 2014 M4 MBP which I'll upgrade the day the beta for 26 (or whatever it's called) comes out.

* Screen is disconnected from the logic board so it happily boots to whatever is connected via HDMI.

 

[Trusteft]

Making MS's BS support look like utopia.

Meh.

 

[baconcat_8964]

While watching WWDC last year, I thought Apple Intelligence going to be the feature that Apple cut the support for M1 chip.

They even sold MacBook Air 2017 back in 2020 and it was supported 2 OS upgrades from 2020.

Apple kept Apple Watch series 3 on shelf after they announced watchOS 9 not coming to Series 3. Imagine people who bought the watch in August 2022 being told that no more OS updates.

 

[ypl]

I think M1 will be dropped next year or just after that.

Apple want to push people off the first generation of M series Macs and their marketing has increasingly been targeting those people.

M1 is still super powerful but it’s impacting new Mac sales in a big way. It was just so powerful but AI and the relatively low RAM allocation in base models gives Apple an excuse to end support.

~20% CPU speed difference + 24GB RAM option for M2 is not sufficient driver to stop supporting M1 but keeping support for M2.
I think you’re wrong (and I hope you’re wrong as I have M1 based MBA and I love its speed and efficiency).

 

[Fuzzball84]

Apple don’t supply as many Mac’s to corporates compared to other companies so the LTS is lacking.

The good thing about targeting consumers is that they are more susceptible to wants than needs. Upgrade cycles are shorter.

 

[crsh1976]

So this looks like the last major release that still supports the very last Intel models, next year should be M1 onwards only - a good thing.

Hopefully the M1 models aren't all going to get dropped just yet, unless it's the very first gen of MBA/MBP/Mini with the base M1 only.

 

[Fuzzball84]

~20% CPU speed difference + 24GB RAM option for M2 is not sufficient driver to stop supporting M1 but keeping support for M2.
I think you’re wrong (and I hope you’re wrong as I have M1 based MBA and I love its speed and efficiency).

I hope I am too but I think Apple dropping support for M1 Mac’s is coming sooner than we think

 

[WarmWinterHat]

i think after a big blowback they would placate users with a couple year security updates

Apple want people off intel ASAP, and would like people to move off M1. It’s just hitting their bottom line too hard. I think the move to base models with 16 GB of RAM was a move to clear out a load of support for the M1 to M3 work 8 GB RAM. It’s a clear cut off strategy.

I don't think it's hitting it at all, Mac sales are doing great. I'm guessing it'll be at least 2027, or even 2028, before they start cutting out the M1 series.

They might not offer the newest Apple AI stuff on the M1, or other 8gb variants, but that's not not going to convince many to upgrade. It wouldn't convince me, since I keep it disabled anyway.

All that said, they are doing some series penny-pinching, and might ramp it up when the $20B Google payola ends.

 

[Fuzzball84]

While watching WWDC last year, I thought Apple Intelligence going to be the feature that Apple cut the support for M1 chip.


Apple kept Apple Watch series 3 on shelf after they announced watchOS 9 not coming to Series 3. Imagine people who bought the watch in August 2022 being told that no more OS updates.

They don’t care. Although Apple typically offers decent support for many devices nearing the end of retail sale, they don’t apply discounts and those people unfortunate to buy such an Apple Watch that gets no more updates get a terrible deal.

 

[gank41]

Same here.
My 2018 Mini is doing fine on its 32GB… and since I am still on Sonoma I may not even miss the upgrade for a while.

Still… time is getting along and would like to put this little chap not out to pasture so much, but just use it as an adjunct to the latest and greatest I could afford.

It's been doing a lot of heavy lifting 24/7 since 2018. 🙂

I'm looking forward to still being able to run some old Intel based VM's in Parallels, but will most likely get an Apple Silicon mini at some point. Just the power savings alone would be enough at the moment..