macOS Sequoia supports these Intel-based Macs:
- 2017 iMac Pro
- 2018 Mac mini
- 2018–2020 MacBook Pro models
- 2019 Mac Pro
- 2019–2020 iMac models
- 2020 MacBook Air
What’s more important than the model year is when these Macs stopped being sold:
| Model: | Removed from Sale: |
|---|---|
| 2017 iMac Pro | March 2021 |
| 2018 Mac mini | January 2023 |
| 2019 Mac Pro | June 2023 |
| 2020 MacBook Pro | October 2021 |
| 2020 iMac | March 2022 |
| 2020 MacBook Air | November 2020 |
As you can see, the Intel Mac mini and Intel Mac Pro lasted all the way until 2023, with the 2019 Mac Pro being removed from sale less than two years ago, when its Apple silicon-powered replacement was announced at WWDC.
To predict the future, I like to consider the past, so let’s take a trip back 20 years or so.
Announced in 2005, the switch to Intel processors was expected to take a few years, but it was clear by January 2006 that Apple wasn’t messing around. By WWDC in August of 2006, the transition was complete, with the Mac Pro bringing up the rear, as would become tradition.
Mac OS X Tiger was the OS that Apple used to bridge from PowerPC to Intel processors, and 2007’s Mac OS X Leopard ran on both types of machines.
However at WWC 2009, Apple dropped a bit of a bomb: Snow Leopard was dropping PowerPC-based machines. This was at the bottom of the press release:
Snow Leopard requires a minimum of 1GB of RAM and is designed to run on any Mac computer with an Intel processor. Full system requirements can be found at www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html.
That page listed Snow Leopard’s full requirements:
- Mac computer with an Intel processor
- 1 GB of memory
- 5 GB of free disk space
- DVD drive for installation
By the time Snow Leopard shipped in September 2009, the very last PowerPC Macs ever sold were just over three years old. If Apple holds to that precedent, the earliest the company would drop support for Intel Macs would be in next year’s macOS release.
There are two factors in play today that weren’t present back in 2009.
- There are a lot more Intel Macs running around than there were PowerPC machines back in the day. Whenever Apple pulls the plug, more users will be affected this time around.
- For a few of years now, Apple has been shipping new features for Apple silicon Macs, but not Intel ones. That may change how Apple thinks about releasing new versions of macOS for both platforms.