Over the past three years, there has been a focus on Apple's support for older Macs with Intel chips as the company transitions to Apple Silicon. The questions revolved around the frequency and duration of software updates for Intel Macs. This year, macOS 26 Tahoe marks the end of support for Intel Macs, with macOS 27 set to replace it next year.

Apple has been transparent about this transition, announcing that security updates will continue for two years after Tahoe's replacement. This aligns with Apple's historical approach to macOS security updates, providing users with predictability and clarity.

Looking back at the entire Intel transition, we can compare it to the PowerPC-to-Intel shift from two decades ago and speculate on what it means for future Apple Silicon Mac support.

The Data

An extensive spreadsheet has been compiled, detailing every PowerPC and Intel Mac released by Apple since 1998. This spreadsheet includes information on introduction dates, discontinuation dates, initial macOS versions, and the final macOS versions officially supported.