Apple will end software support for 16 devices this fall across four product lines, with the Apple Watch seeing the biggest surge in the brand’s history.
The full extent of this year’s software drop was made clear with the announcements of macOS 27 Golden Gate, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, and watchOS 27 at WWDC this week. One bright spot is that iOS 27 includes the same device support in iOS 26, except for iPhone models that have been removed from the compatibility list, and the same goes for the HomePod.
The Apple Watch sees the sharpest cuts. watOS 27 drops the Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra (first generation), and Apple Watch SE (second generation) in one wave, which requires an S9 or S10 chip. watchOS 26 supported the same system as watchOS 11 before it, including Series 6 and later, SE (second generation) and later, and all Apple Watch Ultra models. Deleting three generations of launches at the same time is the biggest loss of support for the latest generation of Apple Watch to date.
The iPad lineup also sees an unusually aggressive set of cuts. iPadOS 27 steps down to an A14 Bionic chip or M1 chip, dropping five models still running iPadOS 26: iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation), iPad (8th generation), and iPad mini (5th generation). In comparison, iPadOS 26 only cut one device off the list for iPadOS 18 (the 7th generation iPad).
macOS Golden Gate closes the era of Intel Macs. The four remaining Intel devices supported by macOS Tahoe are not making the cut this year: MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports), Mac (2020), and Mac Pro (2019). Apple said last year that macOS Tahoe would be the last release for pre-Apple silicon Macs, and macOS 27 makes that official.
Apple TV sees two models dropped with tvOS 27: Apple TV HD from 2015 and Apple TV 4K (first generation) from 2017. Only the second and third generation Apple TV 4K models will receive the update. The full list of devices losing support for the latest software this fall is as follows:
watchOS 27
- Apple Watch Series 6 (2020)
- Apple Watch Series 7 (2021)
- Apple Watch Series 8 (2022)
- Apple Watch Ultra (first generation, 2022)
- Apple Watch SE (second generation, 2022)
iPadOS 27
- iPad Air (3rd generation, 2019)
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation, 2018)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (first generation, 2018)
- iPad (8th generation, 2020)
- iPad mini (5th generation, 2019)
macOS 27 Golden Gate
- MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, 3 four Thunderbolt ports)
- iMac (2020)
- Mac Pro (2019)
tvOS 27
- Apple TV HD (2015)
- Apple TV 4K (first generation, 2017)
Owners of affected devices have absolutely no options in the near term; Apple usually continues to release security patches for the previous version of the OS at least a year after it has been removed. For the latest features, however, new hardware is the only way forward. New Apple apps are expected to be released in September following a beta testing period.