macOS Golden Gate Ships Today, Ending Support for Every Intel Mac

Summary

macOS Golden Gate, Apple’s twenty-third major Mac operating system release, went live this morning alongside iOS 27. It is the first version of macOS built exclusively for Apple Silicon Macs, ending support for every Intel-based machine. The update still ships with Rosetta 2 so existing Intel-compiled apps can still run on M-series chips, but Golden Gate itself marks the final chapter of that transition. Key additions include the rebuilt Siri AI now available on Mac, cross-device improvements with iPhone, a redesigned Dynamic app grid, and across-the-board performance gains. The update is free for all M1 and later Macs.

Why it matters

Intel Mac owners have been getting OS updates since the transition started in 2020, and that road ends today. Anyone still running an Intel MacBook or iMac who has been waiting to upgrade now has a concrete reason. Beyond that, Apple Silicon Macs gain a more capable Siri and tighter integration with iPhone starting today.

HTD Says

macOS Golden Gate officially closes the chapter on Intel Macs today, and if your Mac is from 2020 or earlier, you won’t receive this update. This is an important milestone. Intel-based Macs carried Apple for many, many years. Even before that, Microsoft bailed out Apple to help them become how they are today (but nobody remembers that, right?).

While you can still run Intel-based apps using Rosetta 2, you’ve probably also seen notices saying Intel-based apps will no longer be supported. Moving forward, you’ll only have Universal and Apple Silicon-based apps.

By the way, I created an app called AppAudit that allows you to quickly identify Intel and Universal apps installed on your Mac. AppAudit is free for scanning and finding those apps, and the Pro version (price going up at the beginning of October) goes much further.

Regardless, macOS Golden Gate is a big update. It still needs some polishing, in my opinion, and there are still some bugs, but we have to move forward.

Source:

9to5Mac