It was Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) kick-off earlier this week, and with it a rather… compact… list of announcements, as Apple is working “under the bonnet” on a lot of things, as well as Siri AI.
But what’s going to be able to run what?
Your OS27 lineup
Distilled from the Apple WWDC presentation, here are your big-hitting highlights:
Siri AI
It seems that to finally kick “Apple Intelligence” into something that was promised during WWDC23/iPhone 15 refresh, Apple has partnered with Google to deliver its Gemini model, allowing you to ask open-ended questions, brainstorm ideas for work or creative projects, and engage in natural, back-and-forth conversations.
There will be actions which can follow commands, context search, and an expansion of Visual Intelligence, and of course, a Siri App.
Siri AI will come to compatible iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple Vision Pro, initially in English. Siri AI will not initially be available in the EU on iOS and iPadOS due to the Digital Markets Act, with Apple throwing a hissy fit in a press release.
Take that as a plus or minus.
Expanded Child Controls
For those of you who have bought Apple devices for minors, you will be able to expand controls on the device, such as Application Downloads, Time allowances and importantly, Communication Safety, which helps protect children from viewing or sharing nudity in Messages, FaceTime, and more. It now also intervenes before children see gore or violence in shared images and videos.
Under the Bonnet
For those of you who have been around the Apple product stack for years, we have a Snow Leopard year – that feature on under the bonnet fixes.
These include updates to the Liquid Glass (allowing tints from clear to fully tinted), improved device performance, and better network transitions.
With that done, let’s get on to what you can update and what you’re putting on eBay/Vinted/etc later.
macOS 27 “Golden Gate”
This will be the first year that macOS will focus exclusively on its Apple Silicon product family, with no new version for the Intel devices. We covered this after last year’s WWDC. Whilst most of the work will be under the bonnet, some features are being dropped, notably Apple Filing Protocol and Time Machine backups to AirPort Time Capsule (if you still have working units)
The supported device list for this is
- MacBook Neo (2026)
- MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
- MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
- iMac with Apple silicon (2021 and later)
- Mac mini with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
- Mac Studio (2022 and later)
- Mac Pro with Apple silicon (2023)
Some features will require an Apple Silicon M3 processor or greater with 12Gb RAM.
iOS 27
There’s very good news – thanks to the RAM crisis, it seems Apple is supporting its hardware back to the iPhone 11 – that’s back to 2019, an eight-year-old phone. Of course, not all features will be supported, with Siri AI and Apple Intelligence requiring iPhone 15 or above.
Supporting the OS update with Siri AI and Apple Intelligence:
- iPhone 17 Pro Max
- iPhone 17 Pro
- iPhone Air
- iPhone 17
- iPhone 17e
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iPhone 16 ProiPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16eiPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15
The list below will get just the OS updates:
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11
- iPhone SE (2nd generation and later)
iPadOS
Again, there’s minimal movement, with iPadOS matching iOS with its support.
With Apple Intelligence and Siri AI:
- iPad mini (A17 Pro)
- iPad Air (5th generation)
- iPad Air (M2)
- iPad Air (M3)
- iPad Air (M4)
- iPad Pro (5th generation) M1
- iPad Pro (6th generation) M2
- iPad Pro (M4) M4
- iPad Pro (M5) M5
Supporting OS update only:
- iPad (9th generation)
- iPad (10th generation)
- iPad (A16)
- iPad mini (6th generation)
- iPad Air (4th generation)
- iPad Pro (4th generation)
WatchOS
The support for these devices has been tightened a bit, with Apple dropping support for Apple Watch Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, Ultra (1st generation), and SE 2 in this latest update.
- Apple Watch SE 3
- Apple Watch Series 10
- Apple Watch Series 11
- Apple Watch Ultra 2
- Apple Watch Ultra 3
And yes, VisionOS supports the update for the few of you using it on Apple Vision Pro.
Changes ahoy
For those expecting hardware announcements, I’d find another activity to engage in. WWDC has been focused on the software that drives your device, rather than on shiny new toys, as well as providing a platform for those who develop the applications (be it for mobile, desktop or wrist).
For those who develop on Apple’s platform, there is content galore at https://developer.apple.com/, which is normally engaging and useful as part of both business and personal development.
Meanwhile, for those thinking about upgrades during the next equipment cycle, it’s time to check what you own and if you’re getting further operating system support. For those with MacBooks, expect macOS Sonoma to be obsolete soon and stop receiving updates, whilst Sequoia will be next in line. iPhone users can kiss goodbye to anything below an iPhone XS (a nine-year-old handset at this point). iPad users will be annoyed, with 8th Gen and older losing support.
The biggest losers this generation are watchOS users. It makes shopping for an Apple Watch on the second-hand market a lot harder than it needs to be.
Images, Apple.
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