Rumor: macOS 26 may not support some more recent Macs including MacBook Air 2020 with Intel CPU

As you may be aware, Apple's desktop OS may be renamed - it could be macOS 26, rather than macOS 16 - but whatever the name will be, rumor has it that the fresh version won't be compatible with some relatively recent Macs.

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Apple Insider reports (and take this with the usual caution reserved for anything filtering down from the rumor mill) that pre-release builds of macOS 26 require a MacBook Pro 2019 or later, or a MacBook Air M1 or better. With an iMac, you'll need a 2020 or later model to be good to go with the new take on macOS.

This means that models as recent as the iMac from 2019 may be ruled out in the compatibility stakes, or MacBook Pro laptops from 2018. Moreover, the MacBook Air with Intel CPU from 2020 is also left out in the cold in theory.

As for the Mac Pro, you'll need a 2019 variant or better, and the Mac mini, like the MacBook Air, may require a computer with an M1 chip (at least). All Mac Studio computers should be fine with macOS 26.

Of course, hardware has to go out of support eventually, but this feels rather on the unfortunate side for a couple of the Macs which are supposedly on the way out this time around.

Assuming this rumor is right, that is - which it may not be. Even if it is, remember that while the owners of these Macs may not be able to upgrade to macOS 26, they'll still be able to stick with macOS 15, and Apple will continue to provide Sequioa with security patches for a time. (Hopefully at the very least for a year, but likely more).