It’s an exciting time to be an Apple fan. At last week’s WWDC, the company announced its upcoming slate of software updates, including iOS 27 and macOS 27 Golden Gate. Among the shiny new features, like an AI-powered Siri and new Apple Intelligence features, Apple made some encouraging claims about its efforts to boost performance and overall stability with these new OSes. It’s something the leaks and rumors leading up to the event discussed as well, and for good reason: One of Apple’s big new “features” this year is simply improving the overall experience of using the company’s devices.
Most of us won’t experience any of these new features—including stability upgrades—until Apple releases the updates in the fall. But, like all software releases, Apple is currently trialing updates like iOS 27 and macOS 27 with developers, as well as any volunteers brave enough to install the unfinished OSes on their devices. Traditionally, this is the riskiest and buggiest time to be a beta tester. The whole point of a beta, after all, is to root out issues before the update makes it to the general public, so it stands to reason that the very first beta for iOS 27 and macOS 27 would come with the most problems. It’s why I don’t recommend installing the betas on your personal devices, at least not until Apple drops a public beta. The risk for stability issues, including data loss, is usually too great.
Apple’s newest betas actually improve performance on iPhone and Mac for some users
The situation appears to be a bit more complex than in past years, however. Reports from beta testers on forums like Reddit show positive impressions, especially for macOS 27. Take this r/MacOSBeta Reddit thread, for example: OP was surprised by the performance boost in the first macOS 27 developer beta, claiming that the “lag, stutters, and general sluggishness” they were dealing with on macOS 26 Tahoe are largely absent now. They noticed apps launching faster, smoother animations, and more polish throughout the OS. The top comment agreed, and also praised the new update’s animations. Another user celebrated improvements during high-end tasks, while another noted that Liquid Glass makes objects bend and break less than before. One comment seems to sum up most in the thread: “The beta of 27 is more stable than macOS 26 during its entire run.”
There are some similar sentiments from iOS 27 beta testers, though the praise doesn’t appear to be as universal: This redditor posted on r/ios26, ironically, to share their enthusiasm for the update. They felt the first beta runs much smoother than the official build of iOS 26, while a commenter shared that their iPhone 12 mini runs this beta better than their iPhone 16 Pro runs iOS 26.5. One user said that, while the iOS 27 beta was initially slow due to indexing, it eventually sped up. Again, I’m seeing the same theme here as in the macOS 27 thread: “It seems like iOS 27 is basically just what iOS 26 should’ve been.”
Now, not everyone agrees. Scroll through the comments of the iOS 27 thread, and you’ll find critics. One user said their iPhone drops from 120Hz to 60Hz, while another shared that they ran into keyboard glitches and battery drops. Another claimed their icons now look “pixelated” and “aliased,” while another still found some gestures were broken following the update.
I’m not surprised by these comments: In fact, I’m more surprised by the lack of them in the macOS 27 thread. Betas are not finished, after all, so even while some users are finding the new betas to improve over iOS 26, there are plenty of risks for instability. The fact that some iOS 27 users, and perhaps many macOS 27 users, are enjoying snappier devices following the update is not necessarily a sign you should install the betas on your iPhone and/or Mac. In fact, one user supposedly “bricked” their iPhone by updating to the beta.
These updates may breathe new life into older Apple devices
The focus here isn’t that these betas are perfect, and you should install them now; it’s that there are signs Apple’s performance claims are true. It’s normal for betas to be temperamental; it’s not necessarily normal for betas to be better than their official predecessors. I think it’s safe to be a cautious optimist going into these updates: Come the fall, your iPhone or Mac may really feel faster just by updating it to the latest version.
What do you think so far?
This is good news for anyone updating their Apple devices this fall, but it’s particularly beneficial for those of us rocking older iPhones and Macs. iOS 27 supports devices as old as the iPhone 11, and while you need a 15 Pro or newer to run Apple Intelligence (including Siri AI), your iPhone from 2019 will likely feel snappier just by updating to iOS 27. Apple touched on this during the show: The company says it made improvements to the iPhone’s CPU scheduler, which handles many of the processes that power your day-to-day activities, and found ways to implement these optimizations with older iPhones. It may help you put off upgrading your phone for another year. While Apple dumped Intel Macs this year, M1 Macs released in 2020 may also benefit from that performance boost. I won’t complain if my M1 iMac is faster in September than it is right now, even if it’s still perfectly usable as-is.
This is all, surprisingly, part of Apple’s pitch here. The company highlights a few benchmarks in particular that jump following an update from iOS 26 to iOS 27. That includes 30% faster app launches on iPhone 11 Pro Max, 80% faster AirDrop transfers on iPhone 16 Plus, and images sync with your Photos app 70% faster on iPhone 15. None of those stats come from Apple’s latest crop of devices, emphasizing how these updates are designed to boost the performance of all iPhones getting the update this year, not just the most powerful hardware. The company once accused of intentionally slowing down older iPhones now seems to intentionally want to help you keep your device for longer. I’m all for that.
Now, one big caveat here: Apple did ditch quite a few devices with this latest round of updates. Intel Macs, yes, but also a number of Apple Watches and a handful of iPads. I’d love to be looking forward to performance gains for my Series 6, as would, I’m sure, Series 7, Series 8, first-gen Ultra and second-gen SE owner—but, unfortunately, watchOS 26 is the end of the line for us. But for anyone with an older device that is supported, you may find your temptation to upgrade a bit dimmed by these updates—at least, until Apple releases a touchscreen MacBook or a foldable iPhone.
