Apple is reportedly prepping a significant upgrade to the photo-editing capabilities of the iPhone, iPad and Mac. The company will turn to artificial intelligence to let users enhance their images, including using generative AI to extend images beyond their current borders, according to information leaking out of Cupertino on Tuesday.
The news should raise the excitement level for iOS 27, macOS 27 and iPadOS 27, which should arrive this fall.
Expect iOS 27 to bring in new AI photo options
Long-delayed AI features should finally start appearing on Apple computers this year, with the company turning to Google for assistance. And considering the importance of the camera to so many iPhone users, using AI to enhance images seems a logical feature to add to the upcoming version of iOS.
The Photos app will get a redesigned editing interface that groups new capabilities under an “Apple Intelligence Tools” section, according to an unconfirmed report from Bloomberg. The tools will let users perform complex edits in seconds using on-device AI models, rather than remote servers, keeping the images private.
iOS 27 could add AI features to expand and enhance images
Among the headline Apple Intelligence features reportedly coming to the Photos app in iOS 27, macOS 27 and iPadOS 27 is “Extend,” which allows users to expand an image beyond its original frame by generating additional content. For example, a tightly cropped photo could be widened to add AI-generated surroundings. Users could control how much is added by adjusting the image boundaries.
As Bloomberg described it, “Someone could take a close-up photo of a landmark and use the tool to fill in surrounding scenery.”
Another tool, “Enhance,” focuses on automatic improvements to image quality, including lighting, color and overall clarity. A third feature, “Reframe,” adjusts an image’s perspective, particularly for spatial images. It will give users more flexibility in how a photo is composed after it has been taken.
Apple has struggled for years to have its AI capabilities live up to its hopes. That apparently continues with the AI photo-editing features planned for iOS 27.
Some of the more advanced features, particularly those that generate or reshape image content, reportedly ran into problems during internal testing. Those difficulties could force Apple to “delay or scale back the features depending on improvements to its underlying models,” Bloomberg said.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
