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MacOS 27 "Golden Gate" has very few new features, focusing on design optimizations and Siri AI.
Siri comes to MacOS 27 more conversational, with onscreen awareness and powered by Gemini.
MacOS 27 is also the end of the road for Intel-based Macs, requiring an Apple M1 processor or newer to run.
Today at Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference, Apple announced a slim set of new features for MacOS 27, launching later this fall. This so-called "Snow Leopard" update (focused on performance improvements -- not new features) optimizes features released in MacOS Tahoe, particularly the Liquid Glass UI.
That said, there are some new features, the biggest being a complete rework of Siri to include agentic AI capabilities and on-screen awareness, allowing Mac users to ask questions about what's on their screen or invoke Siri to perform actions on their behalf, like responding to emails or texts.
Also: Apple WWDC 2026: Latest updates on iOS 27, Siri, and Tim Cook's last event as CEO
MacOS 27 also marks the end of support for Intel-based MacBooks, as it requires an Apple M1 chip or newer to run. The last Intel Macs were released back in 2020 (the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2019) so these will be relegated to MacOS 26 Tahoe going forward.
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