Key Takeaways
- Intel Macs will likely soon be dropped from future versions of macOS, which will send ripple effects throughout the Mac platform.
- New versions of macOS will no longer offer Boot Camp as an official way to get Windows running on Intel-based Macs.
- It will also become impossible to run macOS on PCs, because new macOS releases won’t include drivers for non-Apple hardware.
Apple completed its transition from Intel to Apple Silicon nearly a year ago, updating the Intel Mac Pro to the M2 Ultra chipset at WWDC 2023. That was the last computer Apple still sold with an Intel processor, and its refresh means Intel is much closer to being left behind. While many see Apple Silicon as the future and are happy to upgrade, there are some side effects that come with Apple eventually dropping support for Macs with Intel processors. The obvious one is that Boot Camp — an officially-supported way to run Windows on a Mac’s partitioned drive — will disappear when Intel Macs stop receiving macOS updates. There’s no equivalent on Apple Silicon Macs, so time is running out for Windows availability on the best Macs.
It’s unclear when exactly Apple will stop supporting Intel Macs with future macOS updates. However, it could happen as soon as this year with the release of macOS 15. Looking back at Apple’s past transition from PowerPC to Intel, the last PowerPC Macs lost support for new macOS versions designed for Intel processors quicker than usual. This trend appears to be continuing, as macOS Sonoma didn’t support Intel Macs released in 2017, which usually would’ve gotten a year or two of extra macOS support. So, the days of Intel Macs receiving macOS upgrades are numbered. When they’re officially unsupported, we’ll lose two pieces of Mac history forever: Boot Camp and Hackintoshes.
Boot Camp will soon be no more
The official way to get Windows on Mac will die with Intel systems
Underneath the very recognizable Mac or MacBook chassis, Macs with Intel processors were — for all intents and purposes — just like other PCs. They used Intel processors and graphics cards from AMD or Nvidia, when applicable. This allowed Apple to easily offer Boot Camp, which is a tool that makes installing Windows a breeze. After supplying the Boot Camp Installer with an .iso installation file for Windows 10, it helps users partition their Mac’s hard drive or SSD for dual-booting macOS and Windows. Most importantly, the Boot Camp app automatically pulled the necessary Windows drivers for your Mac computer. Installing Windows 10 on macOS with Boot Camp is so easy that anyone can do it, and that’s why it is so useful.
It’s possible to install Windows 11 on an Intel Mac, but it requires using third-party software to bypass the operating system’s TPM requirement.
Even though Windows on Arm is quickly growing, Apple has shown no indication that it plans to re-add Boot Camp to future versions of macOS for Apple Silicon Macs. For now, Boot Camp’s inclusion in macOS versions is entirely dependent on your Mac’s processor. Boot Camp is available in the latest version of macOS Sonoma on Macs with Intel processors, but Macs with any M-series chip don’t have the option. When support for Intel Macs in future releases is officially dropped, Boot Camp will be completely eradicated from macOS.
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It’ll be a big loss, because there are plenty of reasons you might want to run Windows on a Mac. For example, I managed to get a 12-inch MacBook — which was unsupported by newer macOS versions — running perfectly by installing Windows 10 via Boot Camp. Additionally, people who need apps exclusive to Windows might find using Boot Camp is a simpler and more reliable way to use them than virtualization. Some people just prefer Windows, and it’s nice to be able to use the OS you want on the device you have.
Hackintoshes will be gone for good, too
macOS will likely never run on PCs ever again — that’s a shame
The transition to Apple Silicon isn’t just killing the prospects of Windows on Mac, it’s also ending macOS on Windows. Apple never officially licensed macOS to run on PCs, but it was possible through creating what is known as a “hackintosh.” The idea is simple: if you build a PC with components identical to the ones used on a Mac, then macOS should have the drivers and support required to run on that PC. It’s not hard to see the issue here. When Apple stops supporting Intel Macs in future versions of macOS, the operating systems won’t have the drivers and system compatibility to run on PCs.
The slow death of the hackintosh has already started. The release of macOS Sonoma removed support for Broadcom Wi-Fi cards that appeared on Mac computers in the early 2010s. These cards were essential for building hackintoshes that included Wi-Fi support, and it’s now impossible to run macOS Sonoma on a PC with wireless networking. The lack of Wi-Fi completely breaks critical macOS features, like AirDrop. The final nail in the coffin will be when Intel Macs are dropped from future macOS versions, because there will be absolutely no support for non-Apple processors, graphics cards, and more components.
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I know better than to underestimate the hacking and reverse-engineering community, so I won’t say we’ll never see macOS run on PCs again. However, I think it’s extremely doubtful. Now that nearly every component in a Mac is designed by Apple, there is no reason macOS would be designed in a way that works with third-party hardware.
The future of Windows on Mac is virtualization
Software like Parallels will have to be good enough
Unless Apple comes out with a Boot Camp version that supports Apple Silicon, in a shocking twist, the ability to officially run Windows on the latest macOS version could be removed as soon as later this year. That’s not to say Windows on Mac is completely dead. Virtualization software like Parallels Desktop 19 makes it possible for Apple Silicon Macs to run Windows 11 on virtual machines. It’s far from a perfect solution, but it’s the best we’ll get. There are a lot of great things that have happened to the Mac thanks to Apple Silicon, but I’ll be sad to see Boot Camp and Hackintoshes go.
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