Your Intel Mac probably won't get macOS updates for much longer

Apple is winding down support for non-Apple silicon Macs, a new study claims

- ROMAN LOYOLA

Back at Worldwide Developers Conference 2020 (fave.co/ 3Kcdhm9), Apple announced that it was going to make its own Mac processors, and the first question that popped up in everyone's head was "When will they be released?" To many users, the second question that popped up was more important: "How much longer will Apple support the Intel Mac I'm using right now?"

Apple will soon start its third generation of its M-series chips for the Mac (see page 9), so users are starting to ask that second question more frequently. Over at Ars Technica, Andrew Cunningham has done extensive research to figure out when Apple may drop support for Intel Macs (fave.co/3Q3rMMO), and it may be sooner than you think.

Starting with the original iMac that was released in 1998, Cunningham tracked (fave.co/3rLoseV) when each Mac model was released, when it was discontinued, how long those Macs continued to be supported by macOS, and how long Apple continued to issue security updates. With the data collected, Cunningham calculated how long Apple provides macOS support, which can give an idea of when Apple may stop supporting Intel Macs.