Your iPhone camera app will look a little different this fall. On Monday at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, Apple showed off new features in its next version of its mobile operating system, iOS 27, and changes are afoot for the camera app.
Notably, instead of just shifting between Photo and Video tabs, there's now a new option: Siri AI.
Before, to trigger Siri's Visual Intelligence feature, you had to press the Camera Control button. When you pressed it, Siri could see what you're pointing the iPhone camera at and deliver contextual assistance—like Google Lens—such as adding dates from a concert poster to your calendar or helping identify a plant. Now that the feature is visibly baked into the camera app, Apple hopes it will be easier to find and use.
This kind of visual AI assistance is a key feature of smart glasses and AI pendants with cameras, allowing users to access AI assistance with a single tap without having to explain or type anything, since the cameras do the work. Apple is reportedly working on smart glasses as well as AirPods with cameras embedded in the stem, so while this computer-vision tech is making its debut on the iPhone, it could seep into other Apple products later.
Then there are a few artificial intelligence features coming to the Photos app that can alter the final look of your photos. These include: Clean Up, Extend, and Spatial Reframe. Clean Up already exists, allowing you to remove unwanted objects from your photos. Now, it works even better thanks to Apple's updated AI foundation models. It will do a better job of realistically filling in the image after it removes an object.
The Apple Intelligence Extend tool.
Extend is for those moments when you want to add a bit more space to your image. Using generative AI, if you're a little too close to the edge of the photo and want a little breathing room, Extend can generate imagery based on what it thinks should be in the shot. Google has also added nearly identical features in its Pixel phones over the past few years.
The new Spatial Reframing feature from Apple.
Finally, Apple's Spatial Reframing feature can change a photo’s perspective. You can slightly shift the photo’s perspective by dragging your finger across the image. Apple also uses generative AI here to fill in some of the gaps from the new perspective. It's unclear if this feature is limited to select iPhones.
This is a developing story. Check back later for more updates.
Source: Wired
