Apple to finally catch up with Samsung and Google, plans to bring 3 new AI editing features to Photos app: Report

Apple is preparing a major upgrade to its photo-editing capabilities across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with a new set of AI-powered tools that the company could roll out with its upcoming iOS 27 update. The Cupertino-based tech giant is all set to introduce iOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 event in June, while the actual update could be rolled out when the new iPhones arrive in September.

The new features are said to be aimed at improving how users extend, enhance, and modify images directly on their devices, which could take just a ‘few seconds’ of processing time.

Notably, the AI-powered editing features, if they do arrive, would be coming in a market that has already seen companies offer AI-powered photo editing features for years. For instance, Google's Pixel lineup has come with features like Magic Eraser and generative expansion, while Samsung's Galaxy lineup has also had similar features, mostly courtesy of its partnership with Google.

Even other Android OEMs like OnePlus and Oppo offer many AI editing features like AI Unblur and AI Portrait Glow directly inside the Gallery app.

How will Apple's AI-powered editing features work?

Currently, the Photos app on iOS provides users with basic editing features like Adjust, filters, cropping, and a single AI-powered "Clean Up" tool to remove people from the background.

However, with iOS 27, the company is planning to introduce a dedicated "Apple Intelligence Tools" section to the editing interface in the Photos app. This new interface is said to offer features like Extend, Enhance, Reframe, and Clean Up.

The report notes that the "Extend" feature will allow users to generate additional content beyond the original frame of an image. For instance, Gurman notes that users will be able to expand the edges of a photo to fill in missing surroundings, with control over how much content is added.

The second feature, Enhance, is said to allow users to automatically improve certain elements in images using AI, like colour, lighting, and overall image quality.

Meanwhile, the Reframe tool is said to be designed for spatial photos and could allow users to adjust perspective after an image has been captured. For instance, after taking a picture of a car, users could adjust the image from a front-facing view to a side-facing profile.

Apple's new AI features facing internal hurdles:

As with any other AI feature that Apple has released in recent years, Gurman notes that the development of these new AI tools hasn't gone entirely smoothly.

The report notes that internal testing has revealed that the Extend and Reframe tools don't perform reliably during internal testing. Reportedly, these challenges could lead Apple to delay or scale back the features depending on how its underlying models improve.

Notably, Apple's current ‘Clean Up’ tool has already faced flak from its user base for adding inaccurate details after removing objects. Since the feature first arrived with iOS 18.1, social media has been filled with videos comparing Apple's Clean Up tool with Samsung's.

Gurman has previously noted that Apple is preparing to include a dedicated Siri app and a redesigned chatbot-like interface for the AI assistant. The company could also offer the ability to handle multi-step requests from users and swap voice agents via the App Store. Apple has already partnered with Google for a custom Gemini model to run its Siri and other Apple Intelligence features.