There may be a lonh roadmap ahead for iOS 26, but Apple is already hard at work on the next major release: iOS 27.
We have already started to hear rumors about what the next operating system will have in store for our iPhones when it is released in September of 2026, which we’ve collected here. Of course, plans change, and you should take everything with a grain of salt until Apple formally unveils it at WWDC in June. Here’s what we think we know so far.
iOS 27: Performance over features
Our most reliable intel about 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 the major overhaul of Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), Apple spent the next year removing cruft, fixing bugs, streamlining, optimizing, and improving performance. There were new features, of course, but not as many relative to a normal OS X release.
The result was one of the most popular and well-loved OS X versions of all time. Apparently, iOS 27 is going to follow the same route: there will be some new features, but much time and effort is being spent on cleaning up the code and improving performance.
iOS 27: Apple Intelligence
While the focus of iOS 27 may be on performance, efficiency, and reliability rather than new features, there is reportedly one major exception: Apple Intelligence.
Apple is gearing up to launch the new Siri with iOS 26.4, which is rumored to use a foundation model powered by Google’s Gemini, but run on Apple’s servers with lots of modifications and Apple-specific features. But the company has a lot more work to do to improve Apple Intelligence and build smart AI features throughout its operating systems, and that is said to be a major effort of iOS 27 (and macOS 27, iPadOS 27, and so on).
We don’t have much information about what specific AI advancements Apple is working on or how it will be used throughout the OS and Apple’s apps, yet. But Gurman reports iOS 27 will be heavy on new AI features.
iOS 27: Folding phone features
We’ve heard of the imminent release of a folding iPhone for more than five years now, but it looks it could actually 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 to reveal a 7.8-inch display on the inside is going to need some specific iOS changes to make use of 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 gotten any rumors about how iOS 27 will adapt to the folding phone, and Apple is unlikely to unveil 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 take the wraps off iOS 27 at WWDC, which is held in the first or second week of June. So we’ll hear all about it, and the first developer-only betas will ship on Monday, June 1 or June 8, 2026.
Then, after several months of beta updates, the latest version of iOS always arrives in September, typically around the second week. Monday, September 14, is the most likely date, based on past 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 of the upcoming features.
Apple cut off support for iPhone with the A12 processor with iOS 26, but we don’t foresee any reason to eliminate support for devices with an A13 (which has 4GB of RAM) for iOS 27. That leaves us with a compatibility list that looks very much like that for iOS 26:
Based solely on its age, it’s possible that the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro could get dropped from the compatibility list. If so, it would have enjoyed six years of new OS updates, which is on the high end for Apple devices.
