Apple is undoubtedly behind in the AI race. “Apple Intelligence” has fewer features and less utility than similar products from competitors; the company has no chatbot of its own; and we’re still waiting on the AI-powered Siri upgrade Apple first revealed back in 2024.
And yet, much of that could change with iOS 27. The update is shaping up to be a bit of a catch-up moment for Apple, as rumors suggest we’ll finally see both the updated Siri as well as Apple’s attempt at a ChatGPT-like chatbot. And it now seems there’s a good chance the update will also include new photo editing features that could directly compete with others across the AI market.
As reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (via MacRumors), Apple is planning to add a new “Apple Intelligence Tools” section to the Photos app. This new option will contain three AI-powered editing options: Extend, Enhance, or Reframe.
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Extend works like other generative fill applications. The goal is to widen the crop of an image by adding AI-generated imagery. For example, if you want to extend the frame of a photo of a park bench, Extend might use AI to add extra grass, sky, and trees to make the image larger. This feature will reportedly work with zoom gestures, which could make it a more intuitive experience.
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Enhance seems to be an iteration on existing photo enhancement features. The option will adjust the different elements of your photo as the AI sees fit. That includes things like color and lighting—elements that you can already automatically adjust using Photos’ “Auto Enhance” option. Perhaps Apple has improved the AI model to make it work better, or maybe it’s the same feature, packaged under a new Apple Intelligence menu.
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Reframe is designed for spatial photos. When selecting this option, you’ll be able to adjust the perspective on spatial photos, tapping into the 3D image data to tweak the framing. It sounds like a promising feature if Apple can get it working: The ability to reframe a photo after you’ve taken it would offer major editing perks in case the original image wasn’t quite what you wanted it to be.
These features could change or be dropped
While Gurman seems confident these AI features exist, they don’t appear to be guaranteed inclusions for iOS 27’s launch. Apple’s AI development has been rocky across the board, and these image editing tools may be no exception—Gurman says Extend and Reframe in particular could end up getting delayed to a future update, perhaps iOS 27.1 or iOS 27.2. That’s not unusual for Apple. The company will often announce features at WWDC, only to delay them, and these features haven’t even gotten that far yet. But it could be another sign Apple’s AI department is still facing issues.
What do you think so far?
Apple’s only major AI image editing feature right now is Clean Up, and while it does work, it often falls short when compared to the competition. Writing for Lifehacker, David Nield found the tool performed on par with Google’s Magic Eraser, but couldn’t compete with Samsung’s Object Eraser. Perhaps iOS 27 will offer some improvements to Clean Up, as well as Apple’s other AI endeavors.
