Apple is undoubtedly behind in the AI race. “Apple Intelligence” has fewer features and less usability than similar products from competitors; the company doesn’t have a chatbot of its own; and we’re still waiting for the AI-powered Siri upgrade that Apple first announced in 2024.
And yet, much of that could change with iOS 27. The update is taking shape a bit An exciting moment for AppleAs rumors suggest we’ll finally see an update to Siri as well as a chatbot like Apple’s ChatGPT. And now it looks like there’s a good chance the update will also include new photo editing features that could directly compete with others in the AI market.
Reported by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg (via MacRumors), Apple is planning to add a new “Apple Intelligence Tools” section to the Photos app. This new option will have three AI-powered editing options: expand, enhance or reframe.
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Expand Works like other generative fill apps. The goal is to expand the crop of images by adding AI-generated imagery. For example, if you want to extend the frame of a photo of a park bench, Extend can use AI to add extra grass, sky, and trees to make the image bigger. The feature will reportedly work with zoom gestures, which could make it a more intuitive experience.
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increase There appears to be an iteration on existing photo enhancement features. The option will adjust various elements of your photo as the AI sees fit. That includes things like color and lighting—elements that you can already adjust automatically using Photos’ “auto enhance” option. Maybe Apple has improved the AI model to work better, or maybe it’s the same feature, packaged under the new Apple Intelligence menu.
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reframe Designed for aerial photos. When selecting this option, you’ll be able to adjust the perspective on a spatial photo, tapping into the 3D image data to tweak the framing. It looks like a promising feature if Apple can make it work: the ability to reframe photos after you’ve taken them will give you big editing benefits if the original image wasn’t what you wanted.
These features can be changed or omitted
While Gurman is confident these AI features exist, they don’t appear to be a guaranteed inclusion for iOS 27’s launch. Apple’s AI development has been rocky across the board, and these image editing tools are likely no exception—Gurman says Extend and Reframe in particular could be delayed to a future update, perhaps iOS 27.1 or iOS 27.2. That’s not unusual for Apple. The company often announces features at WWDC, only to delay them, and these features have not yet arrived. But it could be another sign that Apple’s AI division is still facing problems.
What do you think so far?
Apple’s only major AI image editing feature right now Clean upAnd when it works, it often falls short compared to the competition. Writing for Lifehacker, Found David Nield The tool works on par with Google’s Magic Eraser, but can’t compete with Samsung’s Object Eraser. Perhaps iOS 27 will offer a clean up, as well as some improvements to Apple’s other AI efforts.
