Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC 2026will start on Monday. Tim Cook will deliver his final WWDC speech as CEO of Apple, where he is expected to share a preview of the next versions of the company’s various software platforms. Probably taking the stage is something iOS 27but we’ll get a glimpse of macOS 27, which will arrive alongside its mobile sibling in a few months.
A typical cycle is this: a preview and developer beta in June at WWDC, followed by a public beta in July before the official version launches in September. MacOS 27 is expected to focus more on performance and stability improvements than introducing a drastic design change or a bevy of new features. That said, it looks like the next version of macOS will look and perform differently than last year’s macOS 26 Tahoe.
Check out what’s coming to your Mac this fall, and find out if your current Mac will be up for the update.
Watch this: Siri’s Google Brain: What to Expect at WWDC 2026
Hello Intel
Before we get to the potential design improvements and new capabilities, let’s start with hardware support for MacOS 27. It will mark the end of the road for Intel-based Macs. Basically, if you have a prepandemic Mac, it doesn’t run macOS 27 and will need to stay on macOS 26 Tahoe.
It’s not all bad news if you’d like to get another year or two out of your Intel Mac: Apple will continue to release security updates to Intel-based Macs for an additional three years.
The following Macs currently running macOS 26 Tahoe will do not support macOS 27:
- 13-inch MacBook Pro (2020, four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
- 27-inch Mac (2020)
- Mac Pro (2019)
If you have a Mac with Apple silicon and you use Rosetta 2 to run x86 applications built for Intel chips, you should know that support for Rosetta 2 is ending soon. It won’t end this year, but macOS 27 will be the last version to support Rosetta 2.
Macs with Apple M-series chips will be able to upgrade to macOS 27, from the M1 onwards, including the A18 Pro-based MacBook Neo.
Powered by the A18 Pro chipset, the MacBook Neo will be able to run macOS 27 as well as any MacBook with an Apple M-series chip.
Smart Siri
AI is ruling all tech events, and WWDC 2026 will be no different. Apple Intelligence almost assured of a starring role, the goal of which will be a smart version of Siri for iOS 27. This new Siri is expected to get its own independent chatbot app and act like ChatGPT. And what the iPhone gets with Siri, Macs will get, too.
Instead of only answering simple questions and performing basic tasks, the new Siri will reportedly be able to search the web and analyze the content of your screen and apps to perform complex workflows. And it does so in a more conversational tone when it understands context and pronouns. The new Siri will be able to access your data stored in Mail, Messages, Photos, Notes, Contacts, Calendar and Reminders to summarize information and help in other ways. It is also expected to be able to produce images.
The improved Siri will use Apple Intelligence to handle most queries on the device, but will rely on the cloud and Google Gemini for more complex requests. Given the head start ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini themselves have enjoyed with Siri, Apple faces an uphill battle to convince Mac users to ditch their AI chatbot in favor of Siri.
An improved version of Siri is coming to iPhones and Macs this fall.
Liquid Glass polish
Apple introduced the Liquid Glass design last year. It was a big trip, and not everyone is a fan. I find the reflection and opacity fading annoying, especially when features overlap, but I’ve gotten used to it on my iPhone, Apple Watch and MacBook. Or maybe I just got better at ignoring it.
With iOS 26.2, Apple added a slider that lets you adjust the brightness of the lock screen clock between Glass and Solid. Maybe we’ll get a similar transparency control slider for things on macOS. If you look like glass, you can dial it. And if you want the text and icons to be more readable, you can dial back the brightness effects for a more opaque look.
Apple could also clean up the overall look of Liquid Glass with sharper edges and sharper contrast, so things don’t look blurry when elements overlap.
Touch support plans
For months there have been rumors that Apple is working on a Touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro which arrived early this fall. If we’re getting closer to seeing a MacBook with touch support, Apple should be working on a touch-enabled version of macOS.
Since WWDC is aimed at software developers, it is unlikely that we will see new MacBooks next week. And it’s unlikely that Apple will share details of touch support in macOS before it’s ready to show off the MacBook’s own touchscreen. But will we see contact strategies in macOS 27? Probably not, but it will be fun to try out the design changes and find out what a touchscreen macOS would look like.