iOS 27 To Prioritize Bug Fixes And Deeper AI Integration

WWDC 2026 is at least seven months away, but the first big report about Apple's software conference for developers has emerged. In his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the company is readying a Snow Leopard-like update across its operating systems.

Following the big design revamp with iOS 26 and the Liquid Glass UI, Apple wants to lay the groundwork for future technologies, such as the iPhone Fold and the iPhone 20, by polishing the system, scrapping old lines of code, and ensuring users have a more stable experience.

For those who don't remember, Mac OS X Snow Leopard was introduced during WWDC 2009, which focused on fixing bugs and improving the previous Mac OS X Leopard experience. Every few years, Apple does that, as it focused on doing the same with the Mac again in 2017 with macOS High Sierra, a follow-up update from the previous macOS Sierra version.

Still, we'll have to wait and see if Apple will bring a similar upgrade once more to promote the reliability of its systems. For example, in 2023, the company was rumored to bring a more polished experience with iOS 18, which never happened. While iOS 26 seems better, lots of users still complain about bugs.

Besides fixing bugs, Gurman reports that Apple plans to step up its AI game with iOS 27. Among the new features, the journalist says the company will announce its health-focused AI agent, which will be tied to a Health+ subscription, and the expansion of its AI-powered web search meant to compete with ChatGPT and Perplexity.

The journalist also mentions the chatbot app Apple is testing internally. While the company doesn't plan to offer a ChatGPT-like app for users, Gurman suggests that this could lay the groundwork for a push into the category later. Moreover, Apple teaming up with Google to bring Gemini tech into Apple Foundation Models could also improve the performance of Apple Intelligence.

These updates will start to become clearer once the company releases iOS 26.4, and then prepares to test the upcoming AI features next summer after it unveils iOS 27. BGR will keep reporting on Apple's future software development, and we'll let you know once we learn more about it.