WWDC 2024 earlier this week saw the big reveal of macOS Sequoia, and of course, Apple’s new AI platform – with the further revelation that Apple Intelligence would not be available for Mac owners with Intel CPUs running Sequoia.
While Apple had previously stated that macOS Sequoia will run on the same Mac models as macOS Sonoma, whether they had Intel or Apple CPUs, Apple Intelligence requires an M1 processor (or better) to work – and that fact likely left Intel-powered Mac owners wondering if they’d be left out in the cold with Sequoia regarding other features. Well, the good news is this isn’t the case, and in fact there are only two pieces of functionality that’ll be exclusive to Apple silicon-powered Macs.
Those are Apple Intelligence, as already mentioned, and also live audio transcription in Apple Notes is only supported for devices which have Apple silicon. This feature will enable the recording of audio right in the Notes app, and will also swiftly generate transcriptions of that audio (which are fully searchable).
Other than that, all the other features in macOS Sequoia will come to Intel Macs (and M-series Macs too, of course).
Mirroring magic and more besides
This includes the hotly anticipated iPhone Mirroring feature, allowing you to view and control your iPhone’s screen using your Mac keyboard and trackpad. On top of that, macOS 15 ushers in the ability to receive iPhone notifications on your Mac, new window layout functionality that enables you to drag and ‘snap’ windows into a grid arrangement on your screen (just as in Microsoft’s Windows OS), the Password app replacing Keychain to manage and sync passwords more easily, and an improved Safari browser.
In short, that’s a pretty good haul even if your Intel-powered Mac can’t run Apple’s new AI features. How much that’ll matter to you is doubtless a subjective thing, and it’ll also depend on how well Apple Intelligence is realized when it actually arrives – although the Mac maker is certainly putting a lot of stock in it going by the initial launch, and has some well thought out ideas behind the AI system.
As 9 to 5 Mac, which spotted this info, observes, Apple Macs with Intel CPUs have at least one more year of support with macOS.