macOS 27: What's New and Supported Macs

This is a plain-English explainer from Windows Now. We are a Windows help site first and cover macOS and Linux too, so we have kept this grounded in what Apple has actually confirmed and flagged clearly where something is still an expectation rather than a fact. If you are weighing a Mac against a PC, our Mac vs Windows 11 buying guide is the companion piece.

What we know so far

Unlike a distant rumour, macOS 27 is a real, previewed product. Apple showed it at its Worldwide Developers Conference during the week of 8 June 2026 and put a developer beta in the hands of registered developers the same week. A public beta followed in July 2026, so a lot of what people are testing is first-hand rather than speculation. What we do not yet have is a firm on-sale date and the full rollout schedule for every AI feature — Apple has said "this autumn", and some capabilities are expected to arrive in stages after launch rather than all on day one.

The through-line of the release is Apple Intelligence and a rebuilt Siri, wrapped in a slightly calmer version of the "Liquid Glass" look that arrived with macOS 26 Tahoe. Apple has framed Golden Gate as much about polish and performance as about brand-new features, so if you are coming from Tahoe it should feel familiar rather than jarring.

The name and version number

The full name is macOS 27 Golden Gate. Apple kept the numbering scheme it switched to with macOS 26 — the number matches the calendar year the release cycle belongs to, so macOS 26 was 2025's Tahoe and macOS 27 is 2026's release. The "Golden Gate" part continues Apple's long tradition of naming macOS after California landmarks, in this case the Golden Gate, the strait at the mouth of San Francisco Bay. The name is not a leak or a placeholder: it appears on Apple's own macOS page, which bills it as "macOS 27 Golden Gate" and says it is coming this fall — as official as confirmation gets.

New features in macOS 27

Apple's headline for Golden Gate is a much smarter assistant. Here is what the company has actually demonstrated and described:

• An all-new Siri AI. Apple's WWDC26 announcement describes Siri AI as "an entirely new version of Siri" that is more conversational and better at understanding your personal context. On the Mac you reach it through Spotlight: type a request in plain language and Siri can search across your messages, mail, photos and files at once to surface what you need.
• Next-generation Apple Intelligence. The updated Apple Intelligence brings new capabilities to Photos, Messages and Safari, alongside rebuilt search in Spotlight, Photos and Mail.
• Visual Intelligence on the Mac. Apple has shown Visual Intelligence that can look at what is on your screen and let you act on it in context.
• Refined Liquid Glass design. The translucent interface introduced in Tahoe returns with readability and consistency improvements. Apple also says it has reincorporated familiar macOS cornerstones such as a more uniform toolbar across the top of apps, edge-to-edge sidebars and coloured sidebar icons.
• Performance work. Apple has pitched Golden Gate partly as a tune-up, citing faster app launches, quicker photo loading and speedier file transfers.

Two honest caveats. First, availability of the AI features depends on language and region, and some are rolling out over time rather than being present the moment you update. Second, if you have used Apple Intelligence on Tahoe, remember it already requires an M-series chip — Apple's own footnotes put Apple Intelligence on "Mac models with M1 and later" — and Golden Gate simply makes that the baseline for the whole operating system.

Supported Macs — and the end of Intel

This is the single biggest structural change in macOS 27: it runs only on Apple silicon. macOS 26 Tahoe was announced as the last version of macOS to support Intel-based Macs, and Golden Gate makes good on that — there is no Intel build at all. If your Mac has an M-series chip (M1 or later), you are supported; if it still has an Intel processor, macOS Tahoe is the last macOS it will ever run.

In practice, that means macOS 27 covers the Apple silicon line-up: MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro models built on M-series chips. The Intel machines being left behind are the handful that Tahoe still supported — reported to include the 2019 and 2020 Intel MacBook Pro models, the 2020 27-inch iMac and the 2019 Mac Pro. The technical reason widely cited is Apple's on-device AI: features such as Siri AI and Apple Intelligence lean on the Neural Engine that Apple silicon has and Intel chips do not.

There is a second, later cut-off worth knowing about if you rely on old software. Reports indicate that Golden Gate is intended to be among the last releases with full Rosetta 2 — the layer that lets Intel-built apps run on Apple silicon — with a further wind-down planned in a future macOS. Nothing about that affects most people today, but developers with Intel-only tools should keep an eye on it.

Release timeline

Here is the schedule as it stands, with the confirmed steps separated from the expected one:

• Developer beta — done. Released to developers at WWDC during the week of 8 June 2026.
• Public beta — done. Opened to Apple Beta Software Program members in July 2026.
• Final release — expected autumn 2026. Apple says "this autumn"; based on its usual cadence and press reporting, a September 2026 launch is expected, but Apple has not published an exact date.

Betas are for testing on a spare machine, not your main one. Early public betas can be buggy and can break apps you depend on, so if a Mac is your working computer it is usually smarter to wait for the final release — and often the first point update after it — before moving over.

How to prepare and whether to upgrade

For most people the advice is simple. If you already own an Apple silicon Mac, there is nothing to buy and nothing to rush — stay on the latest macOS 26 Tahoe update now for security, then move to macOS 27 once it ships and settles. If you own an Intel Mac, macOS 27 is not an option, so keep Tahoe current for as long as Apple issues patches and plan your next machine around Apple silicon.

Whichever camp you are in, do the boring, important things first:

1. Back up. Run a full Time Machine backup before any major upgrade so you can roll back if something goes wrong.
2. Check your apps. Confirm the software you rely on lists macOS 27 support, especially anything with kernel extensions, security agents or specialised drivers.
3. Free up space and update first. Install the latest Tahoe update and clear room on the startup disk so the macOS 27 installer has space to work.
4. Know how to recover. If an upgrade ever leaves a Mac misbehaving, our guide to factory resetting a Mac walks through a clean start.

Thinking about the platform choice more broadly — Mac versus PC, and how Apple's AI push compares with Microsoft's — see our Mac vs Windows 11 guide and our explainer on what a Copilot+ PC is, which is the Windows answer to the same efficiency-and-AI story. You can also browse all our macOS guides for the day-to-day how-tos.