According to yesterday's report according to which Apple will unify its operating system system to 26 (so that the next version of MacOS will be MacOS 26 instead of MacOS 16), an Appleinsider report reveals what Mac will be able to execute MacOS 16, listing the following Macs:
- 2019 or subsequent MacBook Pro
- M1 or later MacBook Air
- 2020 or subsequent IMAC
- M1 or later Mac Mini
- All Mac Studio models
- 2019 or later Mac Pro
What is notable in the list is that the most recent Intel MacBook Air models, and the IMAC Pro are not on this. Three Intel Mac models make the list: the 2019 MacBook Pro, the IMAC 5K 2020 and the Mac Pro 2019.
When Apple announced that it was going to abandon the Intel processors in 2020, the company also said that it would take charge of Mac Intel for several years, although a specific time has never been disclosed. As a rule, Apple offers hardware compatibility with the latest version of MacOS for five to seven years; After that, this Mac can no longer go to the latest version of MacOS, although they will receive security updates for a few years. The Macs that have been deleted from the MacOS 26 compatibility list are about seven years old.
The compatible Mac decline list raises the question of whether they are completely deleted from the macos list. Next year, you can probably bet that the Intel MacBook Pro 2019 and the IMAC 5K 2020 will be abandoned. This would leave the Mac Pro 2019, which could stay on the list a little longer due to its high -end processor and since its Apple silicon replacement was published only two years ago.
Appleinsider also cites anonymous sources that have seen the source code of the new version of MacOS and that it includes references to MacOS 26, although MacOS 16 references also exist. Since the code is always a work in progress, these references will change before the official publication of the software. In any case, Apple will reveal the next version of MacOS at WWDC25 on June 9, which will also reveal the official compatibility list.
