While Apple strayed from its traditional WWDC keynote path today, concentrating on Siri AI and its associated new features, it did share a bit of information about macOS 27.
While Apple’s Craig Federighi attempted to offer a bit of a build up before revealing the new macOS 27 operating system’s name, sharing a tale of an apparently drug-fueled VW minibus trip by the Apple marketing team (with accompanying psychedelic graphics, man), I assume everyone was like this writer, thinking “just get to the name, man!”
The new name? macOS 27 Golden Gate.
Apple apparently took the road less traveled in developing Golden Gate, as much like its Mac OS X Snow Leopard release back in 2009, it focused on refining the interface and improving the performance of macOS.
“With improvements at the very core of the system and enhancements to apps and experiences you rely on every day, macOS feels better than ever,” said Apple.
The update includes what are likely welcome changes to the macOS interface, most importantly, the addition of a slider in macOS that allows users to customize the opacity of Liquid Glass.
“Updates to Liquid Glass ensure exceptional readability with more uniform refraction and improved contrast,” said Apple. “Uniform toolbars, edge-to-edge sidebars, and updated window shapes and menu bar icons deliver a more refined design. And a new slider lets you easily customize how Liquid Glass looks, from ultra-clear to fully tinted.”
Other design changes include a new unified toolbar at the top of the screen, as well as a sidebar that now expands to the edge of a window.
As for the performance improvements, better performing AirDrop transfers, faster network file browsing, improved syncing of Messages, and better Spotlight search suggestions are present and accounted for.
macOS Golden Gate hasn’t been left out when it come to the long-promised Siri AI and Apple Intelligence upgrades. These include on-screen awareness, personal context, a new “Search or Ask” interface for Spotlight, and more.
macOS Golden Gate will also include revamped child safety features parents can use to easily manage the content and apps their offspring can access, as well as just who they can communicate with.
According to Apple, macOS Golden Gate will be compatible with the following Macs:
- MacBook Neo (2026)
- MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
- MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
- iMac with Apple silicon (2021 and later)
- Mac mini with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
- Mac Studio with Apple silicon (2022 and later)
- Mac Pro with Apple silicon (2023 and later)
Intel processor support is dropped in macOS 27 Golden Gate.
During the keynote, it was mentioned that the most powerful Apple Intelligence on-device models “will be coming to our most capable iPhone, iPad, and Mac systems.” A slide was then displayed that includes the following models:
- iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro
- iPad with M4 and later (with 12GB or more in memory)
- Mac with M3 and later (with 12GB or more in memory)
The first macOS Golden Gate developer beta is available today, with a July public beta release to follow. The update will likely be released to the general public in September, although a specific release date has not yet been announced.
