For iOS 27, Apple reportedly has its priorities straight: deep AI integration and cleaning up under the hood for better performance and battery life.
While iOS 26 was all about the liquid glass design, it also came with a noticeable performance hit, especially on older iPhones. With iOS 27, it seems that Apple is ready to make changes.
iOS 27 can clean up the performance mess of iOS 26
Every few years, Apple uses a major version of the operating system to focus less on flashy new features and more on performance improvements and improvements. This trend was started by Mac OS X Snow Leopard, released in 2009. It prioritized stability, speed and optimization over new features.
BloombergIn the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman says that Apple will adopt a similar strategy for iOS 27 this year. According to him, the company will focus on cleaning up the operating system, “removing old code snippets, rewriting features and quietly upgrading apps to make them work better.”
These changes under the hood should make the operating system lighter and more responsive. Gurman also notes that some UI improvements are expected, likely aimed at addressing performance issues introduced with Liquid Glass in iOS 26.
As part of these core improvements, its sources would say that iOS 27 could also bring better battery life.
Apple last made a big push to improve iPhone performance and battery efficiency with iOS 12, which was released in 2018.
iOS 27 will lean heavily on AI
In addition to cleaning up the entire system, Apple will reportedly focus on providing a more cohesive AI experience in iOS 27. This effort could include deeper integration of AI across the operating system and a chatbot-style conversational Siri.
Apple has faced delays and criticism over the rollout of its AI features, raising questions about whether it can catch up to its competitors. iOS 27 may be its biggest chance yet to reset expectations and prove it can compete more aggressively in the AI race.