macOS 27 Golden Gate Cuts Intel Macs and Adds Siri AI

Apple announced macOS 27 Golden Gate at WWDC 2026 on June 8, the next major release of its Mac operating system and the centerpiece of a week that opened with a Siri AI rebuild. The release is the first version of macOS to run only on Apple silicon and the last to ship with full Rosetta 2 translation.

Apple has framed Golden Gate as a refinement year on the order of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, focused on performance fixes and on the Liquid Glass design it introduced in macOS 26 Tahoe. Siri AI, the centerpiece, will be available as an English beta later in 2026 and will reach the European Union on Macs and Apple Vision Pro from launch, even as Apple holds it back from EU iPhones and iPads. The first developer beta shipped on June 8, 2026, with the public release scheduled for the fall.

What Apple Just Announced at WWDC 2026

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2026 ran from June 8 to June 12, and the Mac story landed on day one. macOS 27 Golden Gate is the twenty-third major release of macOS and the successor to macOS 26 Tahoe.

Apple describes the release in a single phrase borrowed from 2009: a Snow Leopard year, built on performance fixes and a quieter design. The headline feature is Siri AI, the rebuilt assistant that runs on Apple Intelligence and draws on Google Gemini for what Apple calls “world knowledge.” Apple’s June 8 press release frames the platform shift as the next generation of Apple Intelligence, with new editing tools in Photos, intelligent features in Safari, and a Passwords upgrade.

The release name honors the Golden Gate strait that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean, a reference Apple tied back to its California base. Build 26A5353q of the developer beta was posted to Apple’s developer portal the same day as the keynote.

• Name: macOS 27 Golden Gate
• Announced: June 8, 2026, at WWDC 2026
• Position: First macOS to run only on Apple silicon; last with full Rosetta 2

Siri AI Comes to the Mac, Powered by Gemini

Siri AI is the assistant Apple has promised since 2024, finally rebuilt on top of the Apple Intelligence architecture and a partnership with Google. Apple says it supports natural-sounding back-and-forth conversation, can take action across apps, and can pull from a user’s personal context, including whatever is on the screen. On the Mac, the front door is Spotlight: type a question there and the system routes it to Siri AI as the top hit.

A new Search or Ask field replaces the old Type to Siri box, and a dedicated Siri app on the Mac keeps the conversation going across devices. Voice dictation now reaches more apps with higher accuracy, and writing tools let users draft messages and ask for feedback in their own voice.

Truly helpful AI must be centered on our users’ needs, deeply integrated into the products they rely on every day, grounded in personal context, and built with privacy at every step.

The new architecture, detailed in the full announcement of the new Apple Intelligence architecture, integrates the latest Apple Foundation Models into its platforms and is “uniquely designed to protect users’ privacy.” That architecture is co-developed with Google, a partnership first reported by CNBC in January. Mac users will share access to Siri AI on a separate timeline from iPhone users in the EU, a split Apple pins on the bloc’s Digital Markets Act. Federighi positioned the year as “a big step forward on our journey to integrate powerful AI into the core of our platforms.”

Visual Intelligence gains a dedicated keyboard shortcut similar to the screen capture tool, letting users select portions of the screen and ask follow-up questions. Right-click contextual menus on Mac and iPad route some requests straight to Siri AI. Apple Intelligence as a whole also expands to 16 languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Turkish, Vietnamese, and the two Chinese variants. The WWDC26 teaser that previewed the rebuilt Siri ran a week before the keynote.

The Apple Silicon Reset and Four Intel Macs Cut Off

The Mac’s transition to Apple silicon began in late 2020 and reaches its conclusion with this release. macOS 27 will not boot on any Intel Mac, ending the Mac’s x86 era.

Apple’s official compatibility list opens with the MacBook Neo, the company’s first Mac built around an iPhone-class A18 Pro chip, and runs through every Apple silicon Mac released since 2020. Macs that arrived on the original M1 in 2020, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, all stay on the supported list. The supported list goes through the iMac from 2021, the Mac Studio from 2022, and the Apple silicon Mac Pro from 2023. The full compatible list, as Apple published it on June 8, 2026, is in the table below; the list of Macs compatible with macOS 27 Golden Gate is also reproduced in 9to5Mac’s WWDC coverage.

Four Intel machines that still ran macOS 26 Tahoe are now cut off, and Apple has laid out a long tail of support for the owners who cannot upgrade yet. Intel Macs will continue to receive security updates through 2029, so older machines will not be exposed, but they will be left behind on the new feature track. Apple framed the cutoff as a clean break that lets macOS 27 lean into AI features that older silicon cannot run.

The M3 and 12GB Floor for On-Device AI

Apple Intelligence features work on every Mac that supports macOS 27, but the most capable on-device AI features carry a second, less visible hardware gate. The full on-device experience, including the on-device version of Siri AI, needs an M3 chip or later and at least 12GB of unified memory. That floor cuts out every Mac with 8GB of RAM, and it cuts out Apple’s newest low-end machine, the MacBook Neo, which runs on an A18 Pro chip. The same floor leaves the M1 and M2 generations on the Apple Intelligence list but outside the on-device Siri AI tier.

Cloud-side features remain available across the supported range, and Apple has not said whether more features will move on-device over time. For now, a Mac with less than 12GB of RAM can use Siri AI but will rely on Apple’s servers for the heavier work.

• 12GB of unified memory required for on-device Siri AI
• M3 chip or later required for on-device Siri AI
• 16 languages supported for Apple Intelligence in macOS 27
• 4 Intel Mac models cut off from macOS 27

Liquid Glass, Refined Rather Than Redrawn

Apple introduced Liquid Glass with macOS 26 Tahoe, and the early reaction was loud: the translucency was inconsistent, the window corners did not match, and the menu bar icons read poorly against a tinted background. Golden Gate does not replace the design; it quietly cleans it. Apple’s release notes describe “more uniform refraction,” a fixed window corner radius across apps and system windows, and edge-to-edge sidebars that no longer leave a band of background at the edge of the screen. A new Liquid Glass slider in System Settings lets users dial the effect from ultra-clear to fully tinted.

Apps now ship a unified toolbar at the top, and menu bar icons sit on a more uniform grid. The pull-to-refresh gesture that has been in iOS and iPadOS for years now works in Safari, Mail, News, Podcasts, and Calendar on the Mac. Apple has also unified the default wallpaper across macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, the first time the three operating systems have shared a single hero image.

The cleanups reach down to legacy technology. Golden Gate drops support for Apple Filing Protocol and the Time Machine backup path to AirPort Time Capsule routers, and it removes Boot Camp, which only ever made sense on Intel hardware. The cut goes deeper than cosmetics: the platform is being trimmed to a single architecture.

The transparency slider is the most visible response to the criticism: a way to keep the design while giving anyone who disliked the original look a way out. Liquid Glass is here to stay with this release. Apple is shipping a correction, not a redesign.

Why the EU Gets Siri AI on Mac First

The European Union gets Siri AI on macOS 27 from launch. The same Apple Intelligence features will be held back on iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and watchOS 27 in the EU, a split Apple attributes to the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.

Apple’s press release on June 8 was explicit: “Mac and Apple Vision Pro users in the EU will be able to access Siri AI when set to a supported language. Siri AI will not be available initially in the EU in iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS.” Apple’s stated concern is that the DMA would force it to provide direct access to private data and apps “without offering transparency or control to users.” The first visible effect is that EU iPhone and iPad owners will not get the rebuilt Siri at the same time as their Mac-toting friends and family. A Mac is also the only supported Apple Intelligence device in China, where Apple has said it is still working through regulatory requirements.

Apple’s marketing team has framed the EU carve-out as a direct consequence of the DMA, the bloc’s competition law. That framing makes clear Apple sees the EU as a regulator it cannot satisfy, not a market it is choosing to delay in. Until the dispute settles, EU users who want Siri AI on an iPhone will need a Mac, a Vision Pro, or patience.

The Last Mac OS With Full Rosetta 2

For Apple silicon Macs, macOS 27 is the last major release to fully support Rosetta 2, the translation layer that has let M-series Macs run older Intel applications. Apple confirmed the cut at WWDC 2025 and reconfirmed it on June 8. After Golden Gate, Rosetta 2 narrows to a small set of older apps, with Apple naming games as one of the categories it intends to keep working. That matters for any user who has held on to an Intel-only piece of professional software: the version they upgrade to in 2027 is the one that breaks it.

The other legacy cuts are already familiar to Tahoe owners. The platform is Intel-free, so Boot Camp, the dual-boot utility that let Macs run Windows, is gone. AFP and the Time Machine backup path to AirPort Time Capsule routers are gone too.

The combined effect is that macOS 27 is the first release in the modern era of macOS to ship with a single supported architecture. Every Mac on the supported list can run the same apps natively, and the legacy translation layer is no longer doing the work it once did. The trade-off is that a handful of professional tools, the ones that never received Apple silicon updates, are now on a countdown.

Release Timeline and the Beta Window

The first developer beta of macOS 27 Golden Gate shipped on June 8, 2026, the same day as the WWDC keynote. Apple made the build available through the Apple Developer Program without requiring a paid developer subscription.

The public beta is scheduled for July 2026, in line with Apple’s standard yearly schedule. The first public release of macOS 27 is expected in the fall, with MacRumors citing September as the most likely window, though Apple has not confirmed a specific date. The betas will not be a daily-driver operating system; Apple’s own guidance has always been to run beta software on a spare Mac.

Siri AI lands separately. Apple said on June 8 that the English beta will arrive later in 2026, with a quick expansion to additional languages, and that EU Mac and Vision Pro users will get it from launch. macOS 27 itself ships to every supported region at the same time this fall.

Apple has framed the year as a Snow Leopard-style performance release, with the focus on fixes rather than a marquee feature. The bet is that the cuts and cleanups will pay off in daily use. For owners of Apple silicon Macs, the upgrade path is straightforward: install the public beta in July, or wait for the fall. For owners of the four Intel machines that just got cut off, the math now includes a new computer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Macs can run macOS 27 Golden Gate?

macOS 27 runs on every Apple silicon Mac released since 2020, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, Mac Studio, and Apple silicon Mac Pro, plus the MacBook Neo introduced in 2026. No Intel Mac is supported, and four Intel models that still ran macOS 26 Tahoe are now cut off from the major release track.

What does macOS 27 mean for Intel Mac owners?

Owners of the four Intel Macs that were still on the supported list, the 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2019, the 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2020, the 2020 iMac, and the 2019 Mac Pro, can keep using macOS 26 Tahoe and will continue to receive security updates through 2029. They will not, however, receive any new feature releases or any of the new Apple Intelligence capabilities. For users who want the new features and plan to upgrade, the math now includes a new computer as well as a new operating system.

When will Siri AI be available in the European Union?

Mac and Apple Vision Pro users in the EU will be able to use Siri AI from the launch of macOS 27 this fall, provided the device is set to a supported language. iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch users in the EU will not get the rebuilt assistant until after iOS 27 ships, with Apple pinning the delay on the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

Is macOS 27 the last version of macOS to support Rosetta 2?

Yes. Apple confirmed at WWDC 2025 that macOS 27 would be the last release to ship with full Rosetta 2 translation, and the company reconfirmed the cutoff at WWDC 2026. From macOS 28 onward, Rosetta 2 will be limited to a small set of older apps, with Apple naming games as one of the categories it intends to keep working. The clock is now ticking for any Intel-only professional software that has not yet received an Apple silicon update.

What is the difference between Siri and Siri AI?

Siri AI is the rebuilt version of Siri that runs on the new Apple Intelligence architecture and draws on Google Gemini for what Apple calls world knowledge, including the open web and a user’s personal context such as Mail, Messages, and on-screen content. It supports back-and-forth conversation, can take action across apps, and is delivered as an English beta later in 2026, with the old Siri continuing to handle the basic requests it always has.