If you spent money for that lovely premium computer hardware they sell, you only get updates for a few years, if you bought it at the end of the cycle.
in a few exceptional cases around the very well known architecture transition that was announced in 2020. They will maintain older mac OSes that are intel compatible, so intel not completely unsupported.
Aside from that, Macs typically get many years of OS updates.
Apple only updates their computers for about 6-7 years. After that, no new MacOS updates. Architecture changes are unrelated, but, yes, they did that twice in the past 20 years (Microsoft and Linux both support mostly the same architectures they always did, with the itanium builds, or other funky architectures that never succeeded).
In contrast, even Microsoft only JUST broke backwards compatibility with old processors (and, have only done it once)… And I’m not even sure that’s a hard cut off (as, I’ve seen older CPU’s than 7XXX series with windows 11 being sold)
Apple profits on both the OS, and the hardware directly. They’re in full control, and it isn’t as though they need to support a RANGE of hardware. And they charge a premium for this hardware.
As BJW mentioned, even worse, developers hoping to develop for Mac OS or IOS NEED to buy an Apple computer to ensure compatibility with the latest builds. Microsoft doesn’t force you to buy a Surface if you want to develop for them. On Linux, you don’t need a specific system either
with windows 11 it depends a bit, there’s cpus you were able to install win11 with some workarounds but that due to missing cpu instruction sets can’t run newer builds
so the latest win11 major update running on a machine below official system requirements is no guarantee of the next one doing so as well
golden gate, out tomorrow iirc, the first macos that’s apple silicon only, and the last to support intel applications via compatibility layer.
tahoe, the previous version and last to support intel cpu, will get two more years of updates. the last intel cpu mac wasn’t discontinued until 2023.
there is no further upgrade path from apple for anything that cannot run golden gate. it’s e-waste to most, a linux goldmine for a few. just like every pre-8th gen era windows pc, but at least with windows you can trick the current version to run on the relics that don’t ‘officially’ support it.
in a few exceptional cases around the very well known architecture transition that was announced in 2020. They will maintain older mac OSes that are intel compatible, so intel not completely unsupported.
Aside from that, Macs typically get many years of OS updates.
Apple only updates their computers for about 6-7 years. After that, no new MacOS updates. Architecture changes are unrelated, but, yes, they did that twice in the past 20 years (Microsoft and Linux both support mostly the same architectures they always did, with the itanium builds, or other funky architectures that never succeeded).
In contrast, even Microsoft only JUST broke backwards compatibility with old processors (and, have only done it once)… And I’m not even sure that’s a hard cut off (as, I’ve seen older CPU’s than 7XXX series with windows 11 being sold)
Apple profits on both the OS, and the hardware directly. They’re in full control, and it isn’t as though they need to support a RANGE of hardware. And they charge a premium for this hardware.
As BJW mentioned, even worse, developers hoping to develop for Mac OS or IOS NEED to buy an Apple computer to ensure compatibility with the latest builds. Microsoft doesn’t force you to buy a Surface if you want to develop for them. On Linux, you don’t need a specific system either
with windows 11 it depends a bit, there’s cpus you were able to install win11 with some workarounds but that due to missing cpu instruction sets can’t run newer builds
so the latest win11 major update running on a machine below official system requirements is no guarantee of the next one doing so as well
golden gate, out tomorrow iirc, the first macos that’s apple silicon only, and the last to support intel applications via compatibility layer.
tahoe, the previous version and last to support intel cpu, will get two more years of updates. the last intel cpu mac wasn’t discontinued until 2023.
there is no further upgrade path from apple for anything that cannot run golden gate. it’s e-waste to most, a linux goldmine for a few. just like every pre-8th gen era windows pc, but at least with windows you can trick the current version to run on the relics that don’t ‘officially’ support it.