iPhone’s Photos App Could Finally Get the AI Revamp It Desperately Needs in iOS 27

Apple is finally getting serious about photo editing. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is building a new Apple Intelligence Tools suite for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 that will let iPhone users extend, enhance, and reframe their shots using on-device AI.

Right now, the Photos app only has a Clean Up tool for removing unwanted objects (that’s it). The iOS 27 update is supposed to change that in a big way. The most interesting addition is Extend, which lets you expand the edges of a photo beyond its original frame. Basically, you take a tight shot of a landmark and the AI fills in the scenery around it. Users will apparently be able to drag the edges of a photo with their fingers to control how much gets added.

There’s also an Enhance tool for automatic colour and lighting corrections, and a Reframe feature aimed specifically at 3D spatial photos on the Vision Pro (okay, who actually has a Vision Pro?), letting you shift perspective after the fact. That said, don’t get too excited yet. People who’ve tested the tools internally say Extend and Reframe have been hit or miss. Apple could quietly pull back or delay some features if the models aren’t ready by fall.

Honestly, this update is long overdue. Google’s Pixel has had generative editing for years, and Samsung isn’t far behind. Two features Apple really should just copy outright from Google: Best Take, which picks the best expression of everyone in a group shot across multiple frames, and Add Me, which lets the photographer step into a group photo after the fact using AI. Both are genuinely useful and Apple has no equivalent.

Beyond photos, iOS 27 is shaping up to be a Snow Leopard-style release, essentially less about flashy new features and more about making everything faster, with a smarter, more conversational AI Siri in the mix.