iOS 27 release date: When will your iPhone actually get Apple’s next-gen Siri AI upgrade

Apple is all set to hold its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Cupertino to unveil the latest versions of iOS 27, macOS 27, and other operating systems. The company is set to unveil a host of new features, many of which could centre around the advanced abilities it plans to bring to Siri, the voice assistant that it aims to turn into a full-fledged AI agent in iOS 27.

But when will iOS 27 reach your iPhone? Here’s everything we know about it.

When will Apple release iOS 27?

If Apple follows its usual launch timeline, we should see the first developer beta for iOS 27 released on 8 June 2026, shortly after the WWDC keynote by Tim Cook. Meanwhile, the first public beta may arrive sometime in July, and a stable build of the new OS should debut alongside the new iPhones in September.

Older iPhones should get the update days after the official unveiling of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra.

A new report by Bloomberg notes that the revamped Siri could be available to iPhone users by September before Tim Cook hands over the reins of the company to new CEO John Ternus.

What’s new with iOS 27?

1) Revamped Siri

Apple first promised a bold new version of Siri during its WWDC 2024 keynote, but the company struggled with that update for a long time before finally conceding that its internal AI models weren’t enough to run such powerful AI features and instead handing over the reins to Google, which is reportedly making a custom Gemini model for Siri.

The company had promised that Siri would be able to access users’ personal context, analyse on-screen content, and take actions on their behalf. While these features are said to be coming, there are also a lot more surprises that the Cupertino-based tech giant reportedly has planned.

2) Siri app

The biggest of these surprises is expected to be a new Siri app, which will be more like a modern AI chatbot such as ChatGPT or Claude. The app will reportedly have a button to turn voice mode on or off, remember past conversations, and offer an auto-delete chat history option similar to the Messages app. The app is also reportedly expected to come with an attachment picker for uploading documents and photos.

3) New animations for Siri

A new Bloomberg report suggests that Siri will get redesigned animations in iOS 27, which the company may have also teased in its WWDC 2026 promotional image.

With iOS 27, Siri will reportedly find a home inside the Dynamic Island on iPhone, where users will also get a ‘Search or Ask’ UI that opens directly from the top of the screen.

The new UI will reportedly open when users swipe down from the top centre of the screen and give them the option to search the web using Apple’s AI-powered search, launch apps, send messages, create calendar events, search notes, and perform other tasks using Siri.

The results for these searches will reportedly appear in the form of a rich text card that pops out of the Dynamic Island, and users will have the ability to swipe down further to open a chatbot-style conversation.

From there, users can launch apps, start text messages, ask about the weather, add calendar appointments, search through notes, trigger shortcuts within apps, or search the web using Apple’s new AI-powered search system, which competes with tools like Perplexity. Results are displayed in a rich text card that pops out of the Dynamic Island. Users can swipe down further to open a chatbot-style conversation inside the Siri app.

4) Visual Intelligence inside the Camera app

The same Bloomberg report also suggests that Apple is planning to bring Siri directly inside the Camera app. With iOS 27, users will reportedly be able to point their camera at an object, landmark, or product and have Siri analyse the image using third-party AI services such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini.

The Camera app is also said to get a major redesign with a focus on making it more customisable while adding more advanced tools.

The report suggests that the top row of shortcuts, which currently appears across different shooting modes, will become fully customisable through a new “Add Widgets” panel. This could allow users to access more professional controls such as depth adjustments, Night mode, timers, and other camera settings based on their preferences.

5) Apple Intelligence upgrades coming to Photos

Apple is also reportedly preparing new AI-powered editing tools for the Photos app. According to Bloomberg, the company is testing new features called Reframe and Extend.

The company is also said to be working on natural language prompt-based photo editing, where users could simply ask the app to crop an image, remove distractions, or change colours via voice or text. However, this feature may not arrive in the initial version of iOS 27.