Apple Launches iOS 27 and Rebuilt Siri AI Assistant

On September 14, 2026, Apple Inc. released a suite of operating system updates, including iOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27. The centerpiece of these releases is Siri AI, a rebuilt conversational assistant powered by Apple Intelligence and Google's Gemini models. Siri AI offers on-screen awareness and personal context integration, allowing it to analyze emails, messages, and photos to perform complex tasks across more than 300,000 apps.

While the base operating systems support older hardware, such as the iPhone 11, the advanced Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features are restricted to the iPhone 15 Pro and newer devices. The rollout is currently an English-language beta requiring a waitlist, with support for additional languages expected in October. Due to regulatory disputes involving the Digital Markets Act, Siri AI is initially unavailable in the European Union and mainland China.

This launch marks the first major software release under new CEO John Ternus. Beyond AI, the updates introduce the Liquid Glass design interface, enhanced parental controls like Ask to Browse, and the end of Intel-based Mac support for macOS 27. Reverse engineers also discovered a private Extensions Framework in the code, suggesting Apple may eventually allow third-party models like ChatGPT or Claude to replace or extend the native Siri backend to comply with EU regulations.

Initial deployment was marred by a bug where the Software Update menu mislabeled iOS 27 as iOS 26.7. Additionally, while Siri AI integrates deeply with the Apple ecosystem, it currently lacks the ability to perform external tasks like booking travel, a capability offered by competitors such as Meta's Muse.