The Best Feature of IOS 27 May Not Be a Feature at All.
When Apple takes the virtual stage in June for WWDC 2026, die-hard fans are likely expecting the company to announce a slew of new features for updates like iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. While these updates will almost certainly include some key features and changes from the “OS 26” era, the best new feature may not be a feature at all. In fact, it may be the complete opposite.
In his Power On newsletter published Sunday , Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman outlined some of Apple’s plans for upcoming updates, as reported by his sources. It appears that after significant delays and setbacks in implementing major AI features and the Liquid Glass design update, the company may be focusing on iterative updates rather than sweeping changes. Thus, Gurman expects “years of incremental improvements,” starting with iOS 27, which , he said, will be “similar to Snow Leopard” when it launches in November .
For those unfamiliar, Mac OS X Snow Leopard is a well-known operating system update in the Apple world. Apple announced Snow Leopard as a system without any new features, as the update was primarily focused on fixing bugs and improving the stability of Mac OS (now macOS). In fact, Snow Leopard wasn’t completely devoid of new features—it did introduce a new QuickTime player and an updated version of Safari—but the primary focus was on delivering a new Mac operating system that felt the same as before, but simply ran better.
If Apple wants to continue this philosophy in iOS 27, I’m all for it. In my experience, iOS 26 wasn’t overly buggy, but I constantly run into other users who claim the update negatively impacted their iPhones. One complaint I constantly hear concerns the keyboard, which users say is incredibly buggy . While there are general steps you can take to improve the iOS keyboard, any software bugs affecting it will require Apple’s intervention, not the end user’s.
I’d also like to see Apple extend these plans to other major updates this year. The first few versions of macOS 26 (Tahoe) received even more negative reviews online than iOS 26, from what I’ve seen. The negative reviews deterred me from updating my M1-equipped iMac to macOS 26.3, which beta testers reported was less buggy than previous versions. While my M1-equipped Mac can run macOS 26.3, it still feels a bit sluggish. While this could be attributed to the five-year-old processor, I think Apple could optimize its OSes overall to make the experience smoother for any device compatible with any OS 27 update. If Apple can make macOS Tahoe run smoothly on a MacBook Neo running a two-year-old iPhone processor, I imagine my iMac will be able to run macOS 27 without a problem.
iOS 27 will also introduce new features.
As with Snow Leopard, Apple won’t release iOS 27 without some new features. The most significant feature will be the introduction of the new ” Siri AI ” feature, which, despite being announced for iOS 18 in 2024, has been repeatedly delayed. But Gurman says another key “feature” of iOS 27 will be support for the upcoming foldable iPhone , which will bring features like split-screen view to apps for the first time to iOS. It would be great if Apple extended this support to standard iPhones (especially the Max), but Gurman seems to believe it will remain a feature exclusive to foldable devices.
As a reminder, Apple is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year , and the company likely has big plans. But I think the best thing the company could do to celebrate this occasion is to ensure all its devices are running optimized versions of their respective operating systems. Happy birthday, Apple!