- More iOS 27 upgrades have been rumored
- AI images and AirPod settings could be refreshed
- There may also be streaming protocol changes
Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is happening on Monday, June 8, and ahead of all the official software reveals that we're expecting, a reliable Apple tipster has leaked three major upgrades that are supposedly coming with iOS 27.
These come from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, who has a good record when it comes to Apple predictions. The first upgrade is related to AI, and Gurman says the image generating capabilities of Apple Intelligence are "getting a big boost this year".
Right now, you're somewhat limited in terms of what you can make with AI inside Image Playground on the iPhone: the styles and editing options lag behind what's possible with the likes of Gemini and ChatGPT. With iOS 27, Apple plans to catch up.
Then there are new features relating to AirPods. Gurman says that Apple will "revamp" the controls and settings pages for its wireless earbuds, though Apple is stopping short of giving AirPods their own app (like the Apple Watch has).
We don't get too much detail about what this revamp might involve, but apparently the settings menus will be "more functional, better organized and more streamlined" — so it sounds like a better AirPods experience all round.
Casting protocols
The third upgrade we've got here relates to the EU. Apple has long been battling regulators in Europe, who want to see iOS made more open and accessible to third parties — which is why we now have alternative app stores for the iPhone in the EU.
With iOS 27, Gurman reports that Apple will allow other streaming protocols besides AirPlay to be set as the default. That means you might be able to set Google Cast as the default, native option for beaming audio and video to other devices, for example.
There have been several previous leaks around iOS 27 as well, and it very much seems as though AI will be the main focus (surprise surprise). For instance, we've heard that natural language prompts might be coming to the Shortcuts app.
It's also been rumored that the big Siri 2.0 upgrade is coming with iOS 27: it will finally have an interface and capabilities that put it on a par with AIs from Google, Claude, and OpenAI, we've heard (though with some help from Google with the AI models).
We will be covering all the build-up and reaction to WWDC 2026 here on TechRadar, as well as the event itself, so stay tuned. It will be the last event like this presided over by Apple CEO Tim Cook, before John Ternus takes over in September.
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