Apple Drops 16 Devices in 2026: Is Your iPhone, iPad or Watch Next?

Apple cuts 16 devices from fall 2026 software updates. Is your device on the list?

credit: dailytechonx

Are You Ready to Check Your Apple Device? It May Have Just Reached its End-of-Life

As part of the yearly cycle if you are a user in the Apple ecosystem, there is a unique brand of dread that descends as WWDC comes to an end. The announcements for the new OS hit the feeds and hidden somewhere in the fine print below the excitement of new features and redesigned UI is a list. A cold, clinical list of devices that aren’t making the cut for the next OS.

This year, the list contains 16 entries, with some of those devices purchased as recently as 2022. Whether you own a Watch, iPad, Mac or Apple TV, you’re going to want to see if you’re device made the list before the fall rolls around. Once the new OS drops, there’s no getting caught up.

Apple Watch Loses Big Time. History is Being Made with the Most Aggressive Support Cut

Let’s start with the category that saw the most cuts and at levels that were frankly shocking. The watchOS 27 will cut five Apple Watch models all at once. Not one or two as Apple has shown a precedent for doing during these OS transitions, but five at one.

They’re all going to stop receiving updates. The S6, S7, S8, original Apple Watch Ultra and the second-generation Apple Watch SE are being discontinued. All five of these models will need an S9 or S10 chip to run the software, and any device under that limit is being officially frozen in time.

credit: HTTech

To illustrate how unusual this is, consider that last year’s watchOS 26 was able to update to the same devices as watchOS 11, stretching back to the S6. That gave owners the expectation that their watch would remain current for several years. WatchOS 27 is wiping out that expectation with a single announcement, cutting three generations of its top models at once. This is the biggest one-year cut in the history of Apple Watch devices.

If you purchased an Apple Watch Ultra in 2022 thinking you were purchasing the highest-end Apple Watch, it’s dead to the world of software.

iPads Getting Left in the Dust

The iPad family also takes a hit, and the range of dropped iPads seems to be wider than Apple’s ever been willing to tackle in one go. The updated minimum chip requirement for iPadOS 27 will be the A14 Bionic chip or M1, and this line in the sand cuts 5 devices out of the pool, all of which were still running iPadOS 26.

credit: arstechnica

These include:

• iPad Air (3rd generation, 2019)
• iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 3rd generation, 2018)
• iPad Pro (11-inch, 1st generation, 2018)
• iPad (8th generation, 2020)
• iPad mini (5th generation, 2019)

For context, there was only ONE iPad dropped in the transition from iPadOS 18 to iPadOS 26. Just one. To cut 5 devices out of the same time this year feels like one of the harshest culls the iPad range has seen in a while, especially considering the two iPads that will be left behind are iPad Pro tablets that were initially marketed as high-end devices for professionals and priced as such. It’s probably fair to feel like you should get more mileage from the hardware.

It’s Official: Intel Macs are Dead! No Excuses!

Apple pretty much told us this last year, but now macOS Golden Gate has cemented it.

MacOS Tahoe was the last official update to run on an Intel Mac. Apple pretty much admitted this back when it came out and with this fall’s launch of macOS 27 Golden Gate, it’s definitely official.

The four remaining Intel models that qualified for Tahoe won’t get any second chances:

• MacBook Pro 16-inch (2019)
• MacBook Pro 13-inch (2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• iMac (2020)
• Mac Pro (2019)

credit: wired

The 2019 Mac Pro is perhaps the saddest one in that list. This beast came out with a price point starting north of $5,000, and some configurations well beyond that. That it’ll be outside the macOS update window by 2026 is sure to be an irritation to those of us who stretched the budget for what they assumed would be a professional workstation with a long life ahead of it.

If you own an Intel Mac now, your software of choice will remain macOS Tahoe for the foreseeable future. Whatever’s new in Golden Gate…new features, AI stuff, new security will not be yours to enjoy in the form of an update. Your only option now is to buy a new machine.

Apple TV Loses Weight, Just Two Models Remain

The Apple TV models aren’t losing as much weight as your pandemic self but if you have a clunky old Apple TV connected to your television, it’s a big deal.

credit: techradar

The latest tvOS update (v27) is saying goodbye to both the Apple TV HD (2015) and the first generation Apple TV 4K (2017). Moving forward, only the second and third generation Apple TV 4K models will get future software updates. Your 2015 or 2017 Apple TV model has now lived its OS life.

Your Last Chance! See if Your Apple Gear is Affected!

Is your trusty Apple gear getting left behind this fall? Here’s a handy list of every device being dropped with the latest software updates, broken down by operating system:

watchOS (27 devices discontinued)

• Apple Watch Series 6 (2020)
• Apple Watch Series 7 (2021)
• Apple Watch Series 8 (2022)
• Apple Watch Ultra (1st gen, 2022)
• Apple Watch SE (2nd gen, 2022)

iPadOS (27 devices discontinued)

• iPad Air (3rd gen, 2019)
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd gen, 2018)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st gen, 2018)
• iPad (8th gen, 2020)
• iPad mini (5th gen, 2019)

macOS Golden Gate (27 devices discontinued)

• MacBook Pro 16-inch (2019)
• MacBook Pro 13-inch (Four Thunderbolt 3 ports, 2020)
• iMac (2020)
• Mac Pro (2019)

tvOS (27 devices discontinued)

• Apple TV HD (2015)
• Apple TV 4K (1st gen, 2017)

Good News on This Front…Not all is lost

We are here to tell you that there is actually some good news to report this year and, that too, from not one, but two product lines which remain unscathed.

credit: macrumors

To start with, Apple is continuing to support the same line-up of iPhones on iOS 27, just like it had on iOS 26. This means no iPhones were left behind from the support list and if you had an iPhone on the last year’s list, your iPhone will find itself on the supported list again. This is a sigh of relief for a lot of iPhone users and a clear indication from the Cupertino giant that Apple is not willing to squeeze iPhone lifespan in a similar fashion to Apple Watch lifespan.

Secondly, for those still in possession of a HomePod, Apple has not touched its supported hardware and your HomePod will continue to receive the OS updates irrespective of its generation.

What happens to your device if your device loses support?

Once your device falls out of the support list, it does not mean it would not work for you any longer. Usually, Apple does not immediately abandon support for the devices that are off the list. As per the usual practice, Apple releases security patches for the prior OS version for at least one year from the release of a newer version. Therefore, even if you are one of those users whose devices have been taken off the list, you would not have to face a security vacuum right from the word go.

credit: tomsguide

What you would miss are all the new, groundbreaking features being announced, such as Apple Intelligence coming to macOS Golden Gate and watchOS 27, the all-new Search engine of Spotlight, an improved Siri with all the latest updates, the Safariautomation tools, additional parent controls and more, all of which need the supported hardware to function. Security patches will ensure that your device is as safe as it gets in a basic sense, but it is also inevitable that your device will get dated each year as Apple continues to release software updates for newer and better hardware.

Apple is expected to roll out the newer versions of all the OS in September 2026 after a summer beta testing program. This means that you have around eight months to check whether your device has been included in the list and what actions you should be taking next.

The most valuable thing you can do about this today is simple. Check your hardware, compare against the above list, and make a sober choice. If you’re running supported hardware, you’ll get the upgrade automatically in September. If you’re running deprecated hardware, now’s the time to begin making a choice between continuing to run the older OS, setting aside funds for new hardware in the next year, or embracing the compromise of continuing to use older software on old hardware.

Don’t wait until September to decide which of those buckets you fall into. That’s always too late to make a sensible choice.