iOS 27: Everything we know about the iPhone 2026 fall update
There may be a long road map ahead for iOS 26, but Apple is already hard at work on its next big release: iOS 27.
We’ve already started hearing rumors about what the next operating system for our iPhones will have when it’s released in September 2026, which we’ve collected here. Of course, plans change and you should take everything with a grain of salt until Apple formally reveals it at WWDC in June. Here’s what we think we know so far.
iOS 27: Performance vs. Features
Our most reliable information on iOS 27 comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reports that Apple intends to treat iOS 27 similarly to Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6). After a major overhaul of Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), Apple spent the next year removing cruft, fixing bugs, streamlining, optimizing and improving performance. Of course there were new features, but not so much compared to a normal OS X release.
The result was one of the most popular and popular versions of OS X ever. It seems that iOS 27 will follow the same path: some new features will be added, but a lot of time and effort will be spent on cleaning up the code and improving performance.
iOS 27: Apple Intelligence
While iOS 27 may focus more on performance, efficiency and reliability than new features, there is reportedly one big exception: Apple Intelligence.
Apple is preparing to launch the new Siri with iOS 26.4, which is said to use the base model powered by Google’s Gemini, but run on Apple’s servers with lots of Apple-specific tweaks and features. But the company has a lot more work to do to improve Apple Intelligence and build smart AI features within its operating systems, and that’s said to be the main effort of iOS 27 (and macOS 27, iPadOS 27, and so on).
We don’t have much information yet on what specific AI improvements Apple is working on or how it will be used within Apple’s operating system and apps. However, Gurman reports that iOS 27 will be heavy on new AI features.
iOS 27: Folding phone feature
We’ve heard about the impending release of a foldable iPhone for over five years, but it looks like it could actually will happen in 2026. The iPhone Fold, as some are calling it, is expected to be an ultra-premium device with a sky-high price tag — some rumors say as much as $2,400.
Naturally, an iPhone that has a 5.5-inch screen on the outside but then opens up to reveal a 7.8-inch display inside will need some specific iOS changes to use it. Not only will the operating system itself need an overhaul to deal with this screen switching and new aspect ratios, but all of Apple’s built-in apps will need to take advantage of the iPhone Fold’s unique geometry.
We haven’t heard any rumors about how iOS 27 will adapt to the foldable phone, and Apple likely won’t reveal any new features until the phone arrives in September, but we’ll be looking for clues at WWDC.
iOS 27: Release date
Apple will almost certainly unveil iOS 27 at WWDC, which takes place in the first or second week of June. So we’ll hear about it all and the first developer-only betas will ship on Monday June 1st or June 8th, 2026.
Then, after several months of beta updates, the latest version of iOS always arrives in September, usually around the second week. Monday, September 14th is the most likely date based on history.
iOS 27: Compatibility
We don’t yet know which phones will be compatible with iOS 27, but we can make an educated guess based on past releases and what we know about upcoming features.
Apple dropped support for the A12 iPhone with iOS 26, but we don’t foresee any reason to remove support for A13 devices (which have 4GB of RAM) for iOS 27. So we’re left with a compatibility list that looks very similar to iOS 26:
Based on its age alone, it’s possible that the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro could be dropped from the compatibility list. If so, it would enjoy six years of new OS updates, which is second to none for an Apple device.