Five years after the transition
In June 2020, at that year's WWDC, Apple announced the transition from Intel to Apple Silicon. It promised to complete it within two years; it did so in less. With macOS Golden Gate, WWDC 2026 formally closes that cycle: no Mac with an Intel CPU will receive macOS versions after Tahoe (macOS 26), currently the last OS compatible with these machines.
Rosetta 2: farewell to the silent translator
Rosetta 2 is the software layer that allowed apps written for Intel to run on Apple Silicon without developers having to rewrite anything, or nearly anything. With macOS Golden Gate, this layer is removed. This means that apps that were never updated for Apple Silicon — and some still exist, especially in professional and academic circles — will simply stop working on macOS 27 onwards.
Who is truly at risk
MacRumors emphasizes that the transition mainly affects those using niche software no longer updated by its original developers: certain audio plugins, scientific applications, legacy enterprise software. Those using mainstream apps — Adobe, Microsoft, Apple software — have been on native Apple Silicon for years. But it is worth taking stock before upgrading to Golden Gate: simply open the System Information app and check the Applications section to see how many are still running under Rosetta emulation.