Upcoming Software Updates From Apple Can Significantly Improve the Performance of Your Device.
These are exciting times for Apple fans. Last week at WWDC, the company announced a slew of upcoming software updates, including iOS 27 and macOS 27 Golden Gate. Among new features like AI-powered Siri and new Apple Intelligence capabilities , Apple made several encouraging announcements about its efforts to improve the performance and overall stability of these new operating systems. This was also evident in the leaks and rumors leading up to the event, and for good reason: one of Apple’s major new “features” this year is simply an improvement to the overall user experience of the company’s devices.
Most of us won’t be able to evaluate these new features, including stability improvements, until Apple releases the updates in the fall. But, as with all software releases, Apple is currently testing updates like iOS 27 and macOS 27 with developers and any volunteers brave enough to install the unfinished OS on their devices. Traditionally, this is the riskiest and most buggy time for beta testing. After all, the whole point of beta testing is to identify issues before the update is released to the general public, so it’s only logical that the very first beta of iOS 27 and macOS 27 will contain the most problems. This is why I don’t recommend installing betas on your personal devices , at least until Apple releases the public beta. The risk of stability issues, including data loss, is usually too great.
Apple’s latest betas actually improve performance on iPhone and Mac for some users.
However, the situation appears to be somewhat more complex than in previous years. Reports from beta testers on forums like Reddit show positive impressions, particularly regarding macOS 27. Take, for example, this thread on Reddit r/MacOSBeta : The thread’s author was surprised by the performance improvements in the first developer beta of macOS 27, stating that the “lag, freezes, and general sluggishness” they experienced in macOS 26 Tahoe are now virtually nonexistent. They noticed that apps launch faster, animations are smoother, and the operating system feels more polished. The top commenter agreed and also praised the animations in the new update. Another user noted improvements when performing resource-intensive tasks, while another noted that Liquid Glass makes objects less flexible and fragile than before. One comment seems to sum it up best in this thread: “Beta 27 is more stable than macOS 26 throughout its entire run.”
There are similar sentiments among iOS 27 beta testers, though the praise doesn’t seem to be as universal: one Reddit user posted on r/ios26 , ironically, to share their enthusiasm for the update. They noted that the first beta runs much smoother than the official iOS 26 build, and one commenter shared that their iPhone 12 mini runs the beta better than their iPhone 16 Pro with iOS 26.5. One user said that while the iOS 27 beta was initially slow due to indexing, it eventually sped up. Again, I see the same theme here as in the macOS 27 discussion: “It feels like iOS 27 is essentially what iOS 26 should have been.”
However, not everyone agrees. Scroll through the comments of the iOS 27 discussion, and you’ll find critics. One user reported that their iPhone’s refresh rate dropped from 120Hz to 60Hz, another reported keyboard glitches and rapid battery drain. Another claimed that the icons on their phone now look “pixelated” and “smoothed,” and a third discovered that some gestures stopped working after the update.
I’m not surprised by these comments; in fact, I’m more surprised by their absence from the macOS 27 discussion thread. After all, betas aren’t polished yet, so even though some users consider the new betas better than iOS 26, there are plenty of risks of instability. The fact that some iOS 27 users, and perhaps many macOS 27 users, are enjoying faster performance after updating doesn’t necessarily mean you should install betas on your iPhone and/or Mac. In fact, one user reportedly bricked their iPhone by updating to a beta.
These updates can breathe new life into older Apple devices.
The point here isn’t that these betas are perfect and should be installed right now; rather, there are signs that Apple’s performance claims are accurate. It’s normal for betas to be capricious, but betas aren’t necessarily better than their official predecessors. I think we can be cautiously optimistic about these updates: your iPhone or Mac may actually get faster this fall simply by updating to the latest version.
This is good news for anyone upgrading their Apple devices this fall, but it’s especially helpful for those using older iPhones and Macs. iOS 27 supports devices starting with the iPhone 11, and while you need an iPhone 15 Pro or later to use Apple Intelligence (including Siri AI), your 2019 iPhone will likely perform faster simply by updating to iOS 27. Apple mentioned this during its keynote: the company says it has made improvements to the iPhone CPU scheduler, which handles many of the processes that power your daily activities, and has found ways to implement these optimizations on older iPhones. This could help you hold off on upgrading your phone for another year. While Apple has phased out Intel-based Macs this year , M1-based Macs released in 2020 could also benefit from this performance boost. I wouldn’t complain if my M1-based iMac performed faster in September than it does now, even if it’s still perfectly usable.
All of this, surprisingly, is part of Apple’s strategy. The company highlights several performance metrics that are dramatically improved after updating from iOS 26 to iOS 27. Specifically, app launch is 30% faster on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, AirDrop transfers are 80% faster on the iPhone 16 Plus, and syncing images with the Photos app is 70% faster on the iPhone 15. However, none of these metrics apply to the latest Apple devices, highlighting that these updates are intended to improve the performance of all iPhones receiving the update this year, not just the most powerful devices. The company, once accused of intentionally slowing down older iPhones, now seems to be intentionally trying to help you use your device longer. And I wholeheartedly support that.
There’s one important caveat here, though: Apple dropped support for quite a few devices in this latest round of updates. Yes, that includes Intel-based Macs, but also a number of Apple Watches and several iPads . I would have loved to see a performance boost on my Series 6, as I’m sure owners of Series 7, Series 8, first-generation Ultra, and second-generation SE would have—but unfortunately, watchOS 26 is the end for us. But for those with an older supported device, the temptation to upgrade may diminish slightly after these updates—at least until Apple releases a touchscreen MacBook or a foldable iPhone .